Report: Louisville OC Lance Taylor is the 'primary focus' for Western Michigan head coach position

Louisville offensive coordinator Lance Taylor has emerged as the “primary focus” for Western Michigan as it searches for its next head coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Taylor just finished his first season on the Cardinals staff after spending three seasons at Notre Dame as the running backs coach and run game coordinator. Prior to his time with the Fighting Irish, Taylor als worked for both Stanford and the Carolina Panthers, where he helped develop running back Christian McCaffrey.

This season at Louisville, Taylor helped the Cardinals rushing attack to rank second in the SEC with 193.4 yards per game. Three different Louisville players finished the season with 500 or more yards rushing, and the Cardinals ranked as the fifth-best offense overall in the conference.

At Notre Dame, Lance Taylor coached running back Kyren Williams, who posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2020 and 2021. Williams was later selected as a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Fighting Irish made the College Football Playoff during the 2020 season thanks in part to Taylor and Williams.

Western Michigan is coming off of a 5-7 season, its first losing record since 2013. That led the Broncos to fire coach Tim Lester, who went a respectable 37-32 in six seasons at the helm. However, Western Michigan never appeared in a conference title game under Lester, which may have played a part in his firing.

Louisville also lost head coach Scott Satterfield, but for a different reason. Satterfield left after four seasons in charge of the Cardinals to become the next head coach at Cincinnati. The Cardinals finished this season 7-5 and will coincidentally face the Bearcats in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 17.