Sacramento State is set to promote defensive coordinator Andy Thompson to head coach, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Tuesday night.
Thompson will replace Troy Taylor, who was hired by Stanford as head coach last week after leading the Hornets to a 12-1 season in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Taylor, who graduated from Cal, was coach at Sacramento State since 2019. The Hornets were upset by Incarnate Word in the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs on Friday night, paving the way for Taylor’s move to Stanford and prompting Thompson’s promotion.
Thompson, who also coached linebackers last season for the Hornets, has been in the program for four seasons after a four-year playing career at Montana and 13 seasons in various coaching roles at Northern Arizona.
He replaces a two-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in Taylor, who also won the 2019 Eddie Robinson Award as FCS coach of the year.
The Stanford job opened when David Shaw resigned in November after 12 seasons. He was the winningest coach in Stanford history with a 96-54 record. His resignation came after back-to-back 3-9 seasons and a 14-28 stretch since the start of 2019.