Several months after a second 3-9 season with the Stanford Cardinals football team, then-head coach Troy Taylor was fired following a breaking ESPN story that he had bullied and belittled staffers. Taylor was out of the sport in 2025 and spent the past six months suing ESPN for defamation.
But Taylor won't be getting any sort of payout from ESPN. On Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarci granted ESPN's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
In a 32-page ruling, Judge DeMarci found that ESPN did not defame Taylor due to the fact that they had reported on his actions truthfully. To sue someone for defamation, you have to prove that falsehoods were reported.
“The gist of the challenged statement that the workplace investigations found that Mr. Taylor engaged in discriminatory behavior targeted at women, inconsistent with Stanford’s standards, is substantially true. This statement is not defamatory as a matter of law,” DeMarchi wrote.
Cutting Losses
Based on that ruling, Taylor would have been much better served not suing ESPN at all. The ruling basically affirms in a court of law that he was, in fact, engaging in bad behavior towards staffers at Stanford.
Had Taylor kept quiet and cut his losses, he probably could have gotten away with telling future employers that ESPN had made it all up. But now there's an official court ruling stating that ESPN reported on him factually.
Even if Stanford hadn't fired Troy Taylor for his actions, it's doubtful that he would have lasted much longer there. Despite going 30-8 in three seasons at Sacramento State with three Big Sky Conference titles, he went just 6-18 over two seasons with the Cardinals.
A record like that would have been grounds for Stanford to fire Taylor on the wins and losses alone.
The moral of the story is simple: If you do a bad job, move on and don't dwell on the negatives. And if you feel wronged, make sure all of your ducks are in order before you take someone to court.
