LOGAN — The Utah State University sports landscape had a bombshell dropped on it Tuesday morning with the news that Aggie football head coach Blake Anderson had been placed on administrative leave and later reports that he will not return.
ESPN college football senior writer, Pete Thamel, first reported in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) that Anderson was on administrative leave and later reported he was ‘not expected to return as coach.’
Utah State released a statement regarding the situation a couple hours after the reports first came out.
“Utah State University officials informed Head Football Coach Blake Anderson on Tuesday of their intent to terminate his employment agreement for actions taken in spring 2023. These actions violated both his employment agreement and university policy. Under his employment agreement Coach Anderson will have 14 days to respond.
“This decision comes after a thorough external review of alleged noncompliance with university policies that implement Title IX, which require full and timely reporting of disclosures of sexual misconduct — including domestic violence — and prohibit employees from investigating disclosures of sexual misconduct themselves.”
Along with Anderson, Utah State will also be relieving Jerry Bovee, the deputy athletic director, and Austin Albrecht, the football director of player development, of their positions at USU due to “violations of university policies related to the reporting of sexual and domestic violence and failures of professional responsibilities.”
The release also confirmed earlier reports that first-year defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling has been named interim head coach for Utah State.
Utah State President Elizabeth Cantwell and Athletics Director Diana Sabau sent the following within an email to faculty and staff which was shared in the news release.
“As leaders, we are responsible for ensuring allegations of USU policy violations are investigated. Today’s actions are the result of a thorough external investigation, and we believe the evidence demands immediate action. Our job is to fearlessly hold ourselves and others accountable for their conduct and to make sure that, for the sake of our students and our community, we are living the values of our university. While recognizing the impact of these decisions on our student-athletes and football program, we will continue to take the steps necessary to deliver a respectful, transparent and winning culture at Utah State University.”
Anderson led the Aggies to a 23-17 overall record in three seasons, including a bowl appearance each year and the program’s first-ever Mountain West championship in 2021.
Anderson has retained the services of Tom Mars as legal counsel. Cache Valley Daily reached out to Mars to obtain a statement and received the following regarding the situation.
“Like any university, Utah State could fire Blake Anderson for any reason as long as they paid his buyout,” Mars said. “However, based on the facts alleged and the language in Blake’s employment agreement, USU is going to be fighting an uphill battle if they try to fire him for cause just to avoid paying Blake what he’s owed. Stiffing a head coach by blaming him for what his supervisor allegedly failed to do is a novel approach that hasn’t been tried before, but that theory will never hold up in court.”
Written by JASON WALKER, Cache Valley Daily
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