Western Michigan has hired Lousiville assistant Lance Taylor as new head football coach
The new era of Western Michigan University football will be led by Lance Taylor.
Western Michigan University Director of Athletics Dan Bartholomae announced the hiring of Taylor as the newhead coach of the WMU football program on Thursday morning, pending all University hiring processes and Board approval. Taylor will be introduced as the 17th head coach in program history at a press conference on Friday.
Taylor, 41, was the offensive coordinator at Louisville this past season and has also coached at Notre Dame and Stanford. He played at Alabama and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama.
“At the start of this process, we were searching for someone with relentless energy and the capacity to lift everyone around them to greater aspirational heights,” said Bartholomae in a statement. “We also sought someone who had demonstrated championship success throughout his life and career. Coach Taylor is quite simply one of the most impressive individuals I have had the pleasure to spend time with. He has won championships as an athlete and as a coach at all levels of our industry, including within two separate Power 5 Conferences. He has recruited and mentored Heisman finalists, and some of the NFL’s finest. He has coached in NFL Conference Championship games. He has coached in New Years Six Bowl Games and in the College Football Playoff."
Louisville went 7-5 in 2022 and is scheduled to play in the Fenway Bowl vs. Cincinnati on Dec. 17.
Prior to his time with the Cardinals, Taylor spent three seasons as the running backs coach and run game coordinator at Notre Dame, helping guide the Fighting Irish to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2020 and a New Year’s Six Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2021.
“I am humbled and honored for the opportunity to be the head football coach at Western Michigan University,” Taylor said in the statement. “... I will work relentlessly in helping our players be prepared andsuccessful in the classroom and on the football field. We will play with great effort, intensity, and passion and we will win championships. My family and I are excited to be part of Bronco Nation and the greater Kalamazoo community. We can’t wait to get started.”
Taylor had two coaching stints with the Carolina Panthers, where he coached wide receivers. In 2013, the Panthers finished 12-4, winning the NFC South.
Taylor replaces former WMU coach Tim Lester, who was fired after suffering his first losing season in six years leading the Broncos. Lester led WMU to a bowl win in 2021, only the second in school history, and was given a contract extension before last season.
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Western Michigan has hired Lance Taylor as new head football coach
