Who is Troy Taylor's wife, Tracey? Taking a closer look at the Stanford Cardinal's head coach

Stanford head coach Troy Taylor is best known for his impressive stint at Sacramento State, where he led them to three Big Sky conference titles before switching to the Cardinal.

Tracey Taylor, his wife, has been a constant by his side as he has moved around as offensive coordinator, high school head coach and finally as college football head coach.

Tracey Taylor has three kids with Troy: Noah, Aaron and Ella. She has even offered Troy Taylor the occasional nuggets of football wisdom.

Tracey suggested that Troy play Sacramento quarterbacks (Asher O'Hara and Jake Dunniway) when he was conflicted about splitting their minutes.

Tracey asked, “Why don’t you just play both of them?”

Troy shared an anecdote about when he was contacted to become the offensive coordinator at Eastern Washington. His salary would be half of what he made at Folsom High as head coach. He described Tracey's reaction to the news.

"The look on my wife's face, I'll never forget it when I told her the salary," he said. "It was, 'How are we going to live?'"

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Troy Taylor's coaching legacy

Stanford vs. Utah

Since he was young, Troy Taylor always knew he wanted to be a football coach.

"I was really lucky," Taylor said. "From about age 7, I knew I was going to coach after I got through playing. I mean, I never had any worry like, 'What am I going to do when I grow up?'"

Taylor, 55, started out as the co-head coach of Folsom High in 2002, where he had an impressive 58-3 record, including a state championship, before becoming passing coordinator at Eastern Washington.

He had a formidable 30-8 record while coach of Sacramento (2019-2022), leading them to three Big Sky titles. He also made them FCS playoffs regulars, and his .958 conference winning percentage was the highest in Big Sky history.

Taylor was named Big Sky Coach of the Year thrice during his tenure at Sacramento and led them to their first unbeaten regular season in style by winning his third Blue Sky title.

Troy Taylor is known for his stellar work in improving quarterbacks and making them world-class. His notable students include Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning and FCS record-breaker Gage Gubrud.

Before he became the Sacramento State head coach, Taylor worked as the offensive coordinator for the Utah Utes.

Stanford turned to the FCS level when it wanted to replace outgoing coach David Shaw, and Troy Taylor was duly poached from Sacramento State.

Taylor takes over a Stanford program that has just gone 3-9 in Shaw's last season and has immediately reversed the doom and gloom that had enveloped the program. He has recruited a top 10 class nationally.

Elijah Brown, who is considered the No. 3 quarterback prospect in the country, committed to Stanford and raised the profile of Troy Taylor's roster. Stanford has already received 24 commitments and is considered the top recruiting class in the Pac-12.

Considering Troy Taylor's offensive acumen, use of the air raid offense popularized by Mike Leach, and history of resuscitating football programs, Stanford fans have the right to be optimistic.