“Part of my identity died.” Andrew Luck’s retirement from the Colts back in 2019 was one of the biggest shocks in NFL history. But life after football has taken him to some surprising and inspiring places. Fast forward 6 years, and Andrew is no longer reminiscing about his days lighting up the gridiron. Instead, he’s now the general manager of the Stanford Cardinal football program, his alma mater. The Stanford football program Luck inherited is nothing like the one he left years ago. As Stanford’s GM, Luck is handling the football side, like recruiting, roster management, and working with the coaching staff.
And his first order of business was the hiring of his former Colts HC, Frank Reich, as the Cardinals’ interim head coach. It’s a reunion that brought excitement and hope. But the story behind that hire runs deep. Back in August 2019, just days before the NFL season kicked off, Andrew Luck dropped a bombshell on the Colts organization that he was walking away. Imagine being Frank Reich that day. The coach had only recently found his groove with Luck leading the team. Reich found himself suddenly without the franchise quarterback he had trusted to lead the team. That offseason, the Colts tried several quarterbacks, but none could fill Luck’s shoes, and the team spiraled. As luck would have it, Reich was eventually let go by the Colts in 2022.
Luck’s regret over leaving Reich in such a lurch never really faded. So when Luck stepped into his new role at Stanford, the first person he thought of was Reich. Their friendship had remained strong over the years, and Luck saw an opportunity to make things right. “The reason Frank and I have such a strong relationship,” Luck said. “Is because we’ve been incredibly honest about everything from the very beginning.” And even when Luck addressed his decision to retire, Reich respected that. Thus, when Stanford needed a new coach, Luck didn’t hesitate to call Reich. “Look,” Luck says, “I retired on him, right?”
Love brought Andrew Luck back to Stanford.
The game that was once brutally beaten out of him slowly began to pull him back in.@zkeefer has more with the general manager of @StanfordFball:https://t.co/9iDFuC9krF
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 18, 2025
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