Utah State Fires Football Coach Blake Anderson Over Title IX Violations

Utah State has fired football coach Blake Anderson after investigation found that he was noncompliant with school’s Title IX policies.

Utah State University (USU) fired football coach Blake Anderson on July 19 for allegedly violating his contract and university policy.

A university investigation found that Anderson was noncompliant with USU policies that implement Title IX, which requires full and timely reporting of disclosures of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence, and prohibits employees from investigating disclosures of sexual misconduct themselves. Anderson was placed on administrative leave on July 2 when he was also notified of the school’s intent to fire him.

Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling was named the Aggies’ interim coach for the 2024 season. He appeared last week at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas on July 10–11.

“This action is based on significant violations of his contractual obligations related to USU’s employee reporting requirements,” the school said in a statement. “These reporting requirements include a prohibition on employees outside the USU Office of Equity from investigating issues of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence. Additionally, Anderson failed to manage the team in a manner that reflects USU’s academic values.

“Consistent with Anderson’s employment agreement, the university provided him with written notice of its intent to terminate and 14 days to respond. To USU’s disappointment, Anderson’s response failed to acknowledge his 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.”

USU’s decision stems from an incident that occurred in 2023. Former player Patrick Maddox recorded Anderson making disparaging remarks about sexual assault victims in a team meeting. The conversation also included comments from a former USU police chief Earl Morris, who said to the football players that they needed to be careful about having sexual relationships with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Maddux later filed a lawsuit against Anderson and USU alleging retaliation for the recording, in which he was harassed and forced to leave the program.

Anderson publicly apologized in December 2021 for the comments he made regarding sexual assault victims and USU paid Maddox $150,000 in a settlement of the case, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

“And to be truthful, I can’t say a whole lot. I can say this, the truth really has not come out over the course of the last year,” Anderson said at the time.

Anderson’s Arkansas-based attorney Tom Mars, plans to contest the termination.

“We were disappointed to learn this evening that Utah State University has terminated the employment of head football coach Blake Anderson,” Mars wrote in a social media post. “Coach Anderson’s legal team believes this decision — as well as USU’s deliberately inflammatory July 2nd press release — violate the terms of Coach Anderson’s Employment Agreement and the implied covenant of good faith.”

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 plans to file a grievance over the decision.

USU Vice President & Director of Athletics Diana Sabau met with the student-athletes and staff of the football program to inform them of these changes and to share that Dreiling will serve as the university’s interim head football coach for the 2024 season.

In an email to faculty and staff, USU President Elizabeth Cantwell and Sabau said the terminations were based on “a thorough external investigation.”

“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,” the email stated.

“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 was 23–17 with a Mountain West title in three seasons at Utah State. He went 6–7 in each of the last two seasons. In his first season at Utah State, Anderson led the Aggies to their first-ever Mountain West Championship with a 46–13 win at No. 19 San Diego State. Utah State also earned its sixth bowl win in school history with a 24–13 victory against Oregon State in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, and a school-record-tying 11 wins after being picked to finish fifth in the Mountain Division of the MW in the preseason polls.

USU concluded the season ranked 24th in the nation in the final Associated Press poll, marking the fifth time ever that USU has finished a season nationally ranked.