The great paradox of college football is that it's expensive to be good, and even more expensive to be bad. But when you're bad, it helps to have a former player with $50 million to give to jumpstart your ongoing rebuild.
That's the case at Stanford, who on Wednesday announced the aforementioned gift from Bradford M. Freeman. If that name sounds familiar, it's because the former player and trustee endowed the football head coaching position, currently occupied by Frank Reich, way back in 1988.
A 1964 Stanford graduate, Freeman used his economics degree to get into Harvard Business School, where he eventually got into investment banking and founded a private equity firm that at one point controlled more than $900 million in assets. He spent a decade on Stanford's Board of Trustees, and fundraised for numerous initiatives across the university.
“With Brad’s incredible gift, we are positioned to win on the field and build a bridge to a sustainable future for Stanford football,” said general manager Andrew Luck. “The ability to support our players through new scholarships and institutional NIL will reinforce Stanford as the preeminent place in the country to be a football scholar-athlete.”
The gift comes at just the right time. Stanford is currently 2-3 on the season, where two more victories would represent the Cardinal's high point over a 5-season span. Stanford has finished 3-9 for four seasons running, and has not enjoyed a winning record over a full season since 2018. That 2018 season represented the end of a 10-year run that saw the Cardinal play in three Rose Bowls (winning two), book six AP top-12 finishes, appear in five New Year's Six bowl games, and win three Pac-12 championships under the direction of Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw.
Stanford, however, failed to adapt to changing circumstances, and the offseason firing of head coach Troy Taylor after going 3-9 in his two seasons pushed the program back to Square One. Now $50 million richer, Stanford will have a head start in attracting top talent -- coaching and playing -- for the program's next chapter.
“This is a game-changing gift for Stanford,” said Stanford president Jonathan Levin. “It will help us to recruit top talent and compete at the highest level. Brad’s generosity and commitment to football will benefit our entire athletics department, as excellence in football will support success across all 36 varsity sports.”