Coaching changes at Stanford have been game-changers for BYU.
In the wild kingdom that is college sports and the transfer portal, quarterback Bear Bachmeier is the latest Cardinal to become a Cougar. Bachmeier graduated high school early and enrolled at Stanford in January so he could compete for the starting job during spring practice.
Bachmeier made tremendous progress, but when Stanford fired head coach Troy Taylor on March 25, the dual-threat athlete transferred to BYU. Last week, Bachmeier made program history by becoming the first true freshman quarterback to start a season opener. He responded with five touchdowns in the first half.
The book on Bear is just getting started, but early indications support how Stanford’s loss is BYU’s gain — and it’s not the first time.
When Taysom Hill was lighting up the scoreboard in 2008 at Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, Cardinal head coach Jim Harbaugh was right there and signed him to play at Stanford.
“It’s the place for me,” Hill told the Idaho State Journal prior to his senior year. “Jim Harbaugh is a really good guy.”
While Hill was serving his church mission to Australia, Harbaugh left Stanford to become the head coach of the 49ers. New head coach David Shaw still wanted Hill, but urged that he finish his mission four months early to enroll in the fall of 2011 and redshirt.
With Harbaugh gone and a Stanford policy that didn’t allow for mid-year enrollees, combined with Hill’s desire to serve a full two years, he turned the Cardinal down and signed with the Cougars and enrolled at BYU the following January.
During his time in Provo, Hill threw 43 touchdown passes and ran for 32 — a program record for quarterbacks. As a multi-purposed athlete with the Saints, Hill is the first player in the Super Bowl era to amass 30-plus rushing touchdowns, 10-plus receiving touchdowns and 10-plus passing touchdowns in his career. He is also the first player in NFL history to have multiple games with at least 100 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns as a non-running back.
Stanford’s coaching loss was BYU’s gain.
Moments after the Cougars hammered the Cardinal 35-26 to end the 2022 season, Shaw resigned as head coach. As he announced his plans, a Stanford commit from El Paso, Texas started to rethink his own future.
LJ Martin, an ESPN-rated four-star running back, had just completed a junior-senior run at Canutillo High, where he rushed for 4,674 yards and 46 touchdowns. With Shaw gone, he took a visit to BYU and signed with the Cougars. Last week against Portland State, Martin rushed for a career-high 131 yards on eight carries.
Again, a Stanford coaching loss turned into a BYU gain.
NFL veteran Frank Reich is the fourth man to coach the Cardinal since 2010 and next year, Stanford will have another one as Reich has pledged to only coach this season. Uncertainty is a paralyzer for a football program, and in Stanford’s case, it has sure helped BYU.
As fate would have it, Bachmeier, his brother Tiger, who also transferred from Stanford, and Martin will face the Cardinal on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN). For two programs who regularly contend over the same recruits, it’s just the fourth all-time meeting and only the second game in Provo.
It will be on BYU to use their recent gains to pin another loss on Stanford.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.