Hometown

Tacoma, Washington

Alma Mater

Stanford ’09

Recruiting Areas

California (Orange County), Oregon, Texas (East Dallas-Fort Worth, Northeast), Washington

Notable Players Coached

Kevin Hogan, Ty Montgomery, Tyler Gaffney, Ryan Hewitt, Devon Cajuste, Michael Rector, Francis Owusu

Former Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard is Stanford’s Andrew Luck Director of Offense and Kevin M. Hogan Quarterbacks Coach. The 2020 season is his 11th on the Cardinal coaching staff, third as the Andrew Luck Director of Offense and seventh as the Kevin M. Hogan Quarterbacks Coach.



In 2013, his first season as an assistant coach, Pritchard worked with the running backs. He was also a defensive assistant for two years after serving as a volunteer assistant in 2010.



A former Cardinal quarterback, Pritchard has helped produce four NFL draft picks in his first three seasons at the helm of the Stanford offense. In 2018, wide out JJ Arcega-Whiteside was third in the nation and tied a school record with 14 touchdown receptions in addition to the fifth-most receiving yards (1,059) in a season in school history, while All-American running back finished his standout Cardinal career. Both earned multiple all-conference honors and were selected in the 2019 NFL Draft.



Despite starting three different quarterbacks for the first time since the 1974 season during 2019, Stanford's offense excelled under Pritchard's guidance. Cardinal quarterbacks passed for 3,149 yards (11th-most in school history) and 18 touchdowns. The 276 completions were the fourth-most in school history while the 444 passing attempts were third-most. Junior QB Davis Mills started six games for Stanford, while senior K.J. Costello started five and sophomore Jack West started one.



Against Washington State, Mills set a new school record passing for 504 yards on 33-of-50 passing.



Four offensive players earned All-Pac-12 recognition in 2019, with C Drew Dalman and TE Colby Parkinson earning second-team honors. RT Foster Sarell and WR Connor Wedington earned honorable mention. The Cardinal continued to excel in pillars of the program under Pritchard in 2019, as Stanford ranked amongst the nation's best in turnovers lost (14th - 13), time of possession (19th - 32:11), fewest penalty yards (29th - 585) and red zone offense (37th - .882).



In 2018, under Pritchard's tutelage, K.J. Costello led a lethal passing attack that ranked second in the Pac-12 Conference. Costello ranked among the top of the league in nearly every statistical category as he was second in the Pac-12 in completion percentage, passing yards and touchdowns. His 3,540 passing yards were second-most in school history as were his seven 300-yard games, and only Andrew Luck has thrown more touchdown passes at Stanford than Costello's 29 in 2018.



Against Arizona State on Sept. 30, 2017, Costello became the seventh straight Stanford quarterback to win his starting debut. Costello went on to lead Stanford to three more wins -- including victories over No. 9 Washington and No. 9 Notre Dame -- and guided the Cardinal during the Pac-12 Championship Game and Alamo Bowl.



Pritchard's quarterbacks played a significant role in Stanford's success throughout the 2016 season, as the team utilized the skill sets of both Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst.



Burns was efficient in his starting debut against Kansas State, finishing with 156 yards passing and one touchdown while controlling the offense. Burns became the first quarterback since Florida State’s Jameis Winston (2013) to begin his first career start with 10 straight pass completions, and the first Pac-12 quarterback to do so since Cal’s Aaron Rodgers in 2004.



In a comeback win at UCLA, Burns led the Cardinal’s late fourth-quarter scoring drive, which spanned 1:41 and covered 70 yards in 10 plays. Burns was 5 of 8 passing for 66 yards, including the winning 8-yard touchdown completion to JJ Arcega-Whiteside. Arcega-Whiteside and Trent Irwin, the two wide receivers named to the 2015 Parade All-America first team, accounted for all five receptions.



When Chryst assumed the starting role midway through the season against Arizona, he earned the first of six straight wins in as many starts. Chryst was the sixth straight Stanford quarterback to win his starting debut, and against Cal became the only Stanford quarterback in over two decades with both a rushing and passing touchdown in the Big Game.



Pritchard instructed Kevin Hogan, a fifth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, during his monumental final season in a Cardinal uniform. Hogan led the Cardinal to the 2015 Pac-12 title and a Rose Bowl crown to cap a season in which he threw 27 touchdowns to eight interceptions and completed 67.8 percent of his throws.



Hogan appeared in more than 50 contests and posted a school-best 36-10 record as a starter. He ranked first in career total offense (10,634), second in completion percentage (.659) and passing efficiency (154.6), and third in passing yards (9,385) and passing touchdowns (75). His 171.0 passing efficiency clip in 2015 was the best single-season mark ever by a Cardinal signal caller.



Hogan also set school records for career rushing yards (1,249) and touchdowns (15) by a quarterback. But what Hogan boasted, based on four years’ starting experience in the Pac-12, were intangibles: competitiveness, resilience, leadership and selflessness.



In Pritchard’s first season coaching the quarterbacks and wide receivers in 2014, Stanford averaged 229.8 yards/game through the air. Hogan increased his completion percentage from 61.0 to 65.9 percent and reduced his interception total from 10 to eight, even though he threw almost 60 more passes in 2014 than 2013.



Ty Montgomery led Stanford with 61 receptions for 604 yards and also added three receiving touchdowns. Devon Cajuste led the Cardinal with six receiving scores and amassed 557 yards on 34 catches.



As the running backs coach in 2013, Pritchard nurtured Tyler Gaffney to second team All-Pac-12 honors. Gaffney, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist, rushed for over 100 yards in nine games and was selected as the team’s most valuable player. Gaffney rushed for 1,709 yards and 21 touchdowns on the season and was named the Pac-12 Championship Game MVP after rushing for 133 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-20 win over Arizona State.



Gaffney was selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.



Behind Pritchard’s efforts with the defense, the Cardinal finished with consecutive top-15 national standings in defensive efficiency in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, Stanford’s defense broke the school’s season sacks record (57) and led the Pac-12 in scoring defense (17.21), total defense (336.21), rushing defense (97.0), sacks (4.07) and tackles for loss (9.00).



Capped off by a Pac-12 title game victory and Rose Bowl crown, the 2012 Cardinal ranked first nationally in sacks, second in tackles for loss, fifth in rushing defense and 11th in scoring defense.



A four-year letterwinner for the Cardinal from 2006-09, Pritchard appeared in 31 career games and made 20 starts, throwing for 2,865 yards and 15 touchdowns.



Pritchard made his first career start against USC on Oct. 6, 2007, and engineered an epic 24-23 upset of the second-ranked Trojans in the Los Angeles Coliseum when the Cardinal was a 41-point underdog. His 10-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth down with 0:49 left in the game secured his spot in Stanford football lore.



Pritchard started all 12 games as a junior in 2008 and threw for 1,633 yards and 10 touchdowns, helping Stanford to a 5-7 record. He relinquished his starting duties to Andrew Luck in 2009. Pritchard saw action in five games that season, capped off by a start in the Sun Bowl for an injured Luck.



A native of Tacoma, Washington, Pritchard earned a communication degree from Stanford. He resides in Palo Alto with his wife, Caroline, and their sons, Afi and Manu.