Sacramento State's Andy Thompson stepping down, joining Stanford staff

Andy Thompson is reportedly going from head coach in Sacramento to a staffer in Stanford.

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Thompson will step down as head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets to take a job on the staff of Troy Taylor with the Stanford Cardinal.

“Sources: Sacramento State head coach Andy Thompson is stepping down and is expected to join the staff at Stanford,” Thamel tweeted on Friday.

Thompson served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Sacramento State when Taylor himself was head coach there from 2019 to 2022. He was then hired as Taylor’s replacement when he took the job at Stanford after ’22.

During the two years of his own tenure, Thompson was 11-14 (5-11 in the Big Sky) overall. The Hornets were 8-5 in his debut last fall but went just 3-9 in 2024.

Ironically enough, though, is that Thompson’s biggest win as the head coach of what is now his old program was a road victory against his new one and former boss. Sacramento State went to Stanford and won 30-23 against the Cardinal on September 16th, 2023. The Hornets outgained them in yardage, led by QB Kaiden Bennett with 379 yards himself, which was eight shy of the opponent’s entire offense, while also forcing two interceptions in pulling the upset.

Thompson has also coached at Eastern Oregon and Northern Arizona. He himself previously played his collegiate career at Montana.

While not specified, Thompson’s new role will likely be on the defensive side of the ball for Stanford. That’s after the Cardinal finished 116th in scoring defense this past season by allowing 33.7 ppg. That was a slight improvement from Taylor’s first season as they finished at 132nd by allowing an average of 37.7 ppg., which brings the statistic to 35.7 ppg. and 437.9 yards given up to their opponents in Taylor’s tenure. With that, Stanford has also not finished inside the top 100 in defense since 2020.

There’s a history there for Thompson in previously working for Taylor. He’ll now reportedly do so again by stepping away and heading two hours south to Stanford.