Utah St. fires Anderson as coach, cites violations

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterJul 18, 2024, 10:22 PM ET
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- College football reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
- Graduate of Northwestern University.

Utah State fired football coach Blake Anderson on Thursday, two weeks after informing him of its intent to terminate because of alleged actions in 2023 that the school said violated his contract and university policy.

The school cited “significant violations” related to the reporting requirements for all Utah State employees.

“These reporting requirements include a prohibition on employees outside the USU Office of Equity from investigating issues of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence,” the school said in a statement Thursday. “Additionally, Anderson failed to manage the team in a manner that reflects USU’s academic values.”

Anderson’s attorney Tom Mars, in a statement on X, said “all available legal remedies” will be pursued against the school. Mars said the firing decision and Utah State’s “inflammatory” news release July 2, which outlined the reasons for Anderson’s expected dismissal, violated the terms of Anderson’s contract. Anderson coached Utah State for the past three seasons and in late 2021 agreed to an extension through 2027.

Utah State said an external investigation found Anderson did not comply with the school’s Title IX policies, which require timely reporting of sexual misconduct and domestic violence and bar employees from investigating reports of sexual misconduct themselves. The school also fired deputy athletic director Jerry Bovee and football staff member Austin Albrecht for violating university policies connected to the reporting of domestic and sexual violence. Bovee last week announced his intention to file a grievance, pursuant to university policy, and said he and two other Utah State employees reported an incident that occurred in April 2023 to the university’s Office of Equity.

Mars on Monday sent the school a 70-page response to Anderson’s termination and told ESPN that he planned to release the document soon. Utah State referenced the response in its statement Thursday, saying it “failed to acknowledge [Anderson’s] responsibilities as a USU employee and as a head coach and instead sought to make excuses and unsuccessfully recast the clear language of USU’s policies.”

ESPN obtained an excerpt of Anderson’s response to Utah State, which cited a “sham investigation” by the university, intent on firing him for cause. The response notes that Anderson was not required to report any information about a domestic incident involving a player in April 2023 but did relay what he learned to Bovee, who then served as interim athletic director. Bovee then made an “appropriate, timely ‘group report’ to USU’s Equity Office,” the response reads.

The response adds that Anderson did not conduct his own Title IX investigation and didn’t know about the player’s arrest for several days.

According to the response, he “spent just over a day attempting to find out what his player was arrested for and why to determine whether any report was required. The evidence shows beyond question that Coach Anderson satisfied the requirements of all USU policies — including the inapplicable ones which USU mistakenly relied on in terminating his employment.”

Anderson’s response asks Utah State to pay the coach his full remaining buyout, issue a public apology and detract its “defamatory press release.”

Mars also released this statement to ESPN:

“Prior to starting the 14-day clock in Coach Anderson’s contract that was intended to give him a chance to defend himself before USU went public with false charges, USU had already found Coach Anderson guilty. Worse yet, USU publicly declared that he was guilty in an inflammatory press release it issued the same day the 14-day clock started running.

“It didn’t matter to USU what we said to rip their case to shreds. The die was cast. I’d be surprised if USU even considered our response.

“Contrary to USU’s press releases, this dispute has nothing to do with any violations of Title IX. None were even alleged. What’s more, the USU policy Coach Anderson was falsely accused of violating is entitled ‘Non-Title IX Policy.’

“In truth, this dispute is just about four good people being scapegoated so USU could further its goal of portraying itself as a Title IX champion while also stiffing its head football coach. That’s all there is to it.”

In the school’s statement, university president Elizabeth Cantwell said: “While I recognize that today’s decision has a significant impact, it is the only one that could be made based on the facts. We are committed to moving forward in building a winning athletics program grounded in student success and integrity.”

Anderson went 23-17 with a Mountain West title at Utah State and is 74-54 overall as an FBS coach. The Aggies open the 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Robert Morris.

Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling has been named the Aggies’ interim coach for the 2024 season and represented the school last week at Mountain West media days. Dreiling previously was defensive coordinator at New Mexico State.