Kris Richard has spent nearly his entire coaching career in the NFL.
After eight seasons with the Seahawks, including a few seasons as their defensive coordinator, Richard left Seattle in 2018 and has spent time with the Cowboys, Saints and Jaguars in a variety of roles.
The 3rd round pick in the 2002 NFL Draft out of USC has had just one college coaching stop over the past two decades, and that was at his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 2008-09 immediately after his playing career in the NFL was over following stops with the Dolphins, 49ers, and Raiders.
Now, a former Pac-12 rival of USC is targeting Richard for their defensive coordinator role.
According to a report from CBS Sports, Richard is the target of Stanford's defensive coordinator search.
A veteran with a ton of NFL experience working with elite secondaries, Richard began his career with the Seahawks in 2010 as an assistant defensive backs coach before he earned a promotion to corners coach the next season.
He took over as defensive backs coach in 2012, and held that role for a few seasons, helping the team to a Super Bowl title in 2014 led by a number of standouts in the secondary including Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor that became known as The Legion of Boom.
After losing Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks elevated Sherman to defensive coordinator following the departure of Dan Quinn to become the new Falcons head coach. He made an immediate impact, leading the league in points allowed his first season calling the defense in 2015, and they ranked third in the same category the following season before a dip to 13th in his final season calling the defense in 2017.
Richard was relieved of the defensive coordinator duties following that 2017 season after a 9-7 season where they failed to qualify for the playoffs.
He has spent the last several seasons with the Cowboys where he coached the defensive backs and held the pass game coordinator title, then moved to the Saints where he started as defensive backs coach before adding the co-defensive coordinator title in 2022, and after a year away from the sidelines in 2023, he landed with the Jaguars as defensive backs coach in 2024.
Richard did not officially coach anywhere this past season.
The Cardinal, after a search conducted by GM Andrew Luck, tabbed former assistant Tavita Pritchard as the school's new head coach back in late November. Pritchard previously logged 13 seasons as an assistant with the program before a move to the NFL, where he most recently served as the quarterbacks coach for emerging star Jayden Daniels with the Washington Commanders.
Richard would join a staff that currently headlined by former Virginia offensive line coach Terry Heffernan, who was recently tabbed as the school's new offensive coordinator last week.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for more.