KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Western Michigan University named it’s newest head football coach on Thursday, December 8.
The announcement comes just ten days after the university fired head coach Tim Lester from their football program during the last week of November.
41-year-old Mt. Vernon, Alabama native Lance Taylor will serve as the university’s 17th coach to lead the Bronco football team, according to WMU.
Taylor, who graduated from University of Alabama in 2003 with a degree in management, will be leading the Broncos after finishing the 2022 season as the offensive coordinator with the University of Louisville.
On the announcement, Western Michigan University Director of Athletics Dan Batholomae said, “Coach Taylor is quite simply one of the most impressive individuals I have had the pleasure to spend time with. He has won championships as an athlete and as a coach at all levels of our industry, including within two separate Power 5 Conferences. He has recruited and mentored Heisman finalists, and some of the NFL’s finest. … Our vision aligned within minutes of conversation, and our future is in great hands.”
Prior to his arrival in Kalamazoo, Taylor spent three seasons as the running backs coach and run game coordinator at the University of Notre Dame, leading the Fighting Irish to a 2022 college football playoff, and a New Year’s Six Fiesta Bowl in 2021.
In speaking about his new role at Western Michigan University, Taylor said quote, “I am humbled and honored for the opportunity to be the head football coach at Western Michigan University,” says Taylor. “I will work relentlessly in helping our players be prepared and successful in the classroom and on the football field. We will play with great effort, intensity, and passion and WE WILL WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!” end quote.
Taylor is set to make his debut as head coach during an news conference, Friday, December 9 at Heritage Hall.
