Former Stanford coach Troy Taylor is taking aim at ESPN.
According to Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee, via Sam Neumann of AwfulAnnouncing.com, Taylor has sued ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai regarding a March 2025 story that, as Taylor alleges, resulted in his termination.
Taylor alleges that ESPN pushed a damaging narrative through false claims, and that ESPN had a goal of destroying Taylor's career.
The original ESPN article focused on two internal investigations from 2023 and 2024 based on complaints from female employees that Taylor had bullied them. The civil complaint cites a later story from ESPN, which apparently undermined some of its prior reporting — in part by pointing out that multiple allegations were found to have no merit.
ESPN has not retracted any of its reporting on Taylor. ESPN also declined comment on the matter to TheAthletic.com.
If Taylor wants to prove defamation, he'll have a high bar. As a public figure, he must prove that ESPN knew the information was false or that it acted with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity of the information. And if he's trying to prove ESPN actually destroyed his career, he'll need to show that Stanford made its decision to move on from Taylor because of ESPN's reporting.
Stanford G.M. Andrew Luck fired Taylor not long after the ESPN report emerged, replacing him for 2025 with former Colts and Panthers coach Frank Reich.
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