Almost exactly 13 months ago, bible open on his desk, a lone player working out behind him on Merlin Olsen Field, Blake Anderson spent more than an hour outlining his vision for Utah State football to a visiting reporter.
He spoke of expected and impending changes to Utah State’s Name, Image and Likeness commitment overall but most especially for its football program.
He talked candidly about the losses in his life; father and wife to cancer, a son to suicide.
Then Anderson spoke about his mission field on the football field.
“There’s been a ton of times I thought about is this where I need to be, is this where God wants me to be,” Anderson said. “My oldest son, Coleton, after we lost his mom, after we lost Wendy, I remember him turning and looking at me and saying, ‘Dad, you gotta get back. I know you want to be with us, to help us, but you’ve got 150 people counting on you, too.’
“Along this journey there’s been a lot of times [when Anderson questioned his future], but I’ve always felt like God put me in coaching as a mission field. This is exactly where He wanted me to be, and I’ve done it badly a lot. But at times, you’ve been able to see Him through what we do.
“I thought it was really important that my testimony show that I trust and lean on Him, even more in a time of crisis and tragedy than I do praising Him when things are going good.”
The school has afforded Anderson two weeks to respond to its findings from a Title IX probe and its formal announcement that leadership planned to move forward with Anderson’s termination.
For all of Anderson’s previous tribulations, he has appeared a sympathetic figure.
Utah State, in making this move 60 days before the Aggies are scheduled to kick off their 2024 season and three days after Anderson and wife, Brittany, welcomed the birth of son Cannon Blake, sends an unambiguous message.
It finds fault, not sympathy, with Anderson’s guidance of Utah State football after a Title IX investigation that has spanned since Anderson sat in his office that last week of May 2023 and discussed his return as Aggies offensive coordinator, and his statement that Utah State could be as good as any Group of Five program in college football.
Officials took the step to specifically reveal it faulted Anderson’s failure to provide “full and timely reporting of disclosures of sexual misconduct — including domestic violence — and prohibit employees from investigating disclosures of sexual misconduct themselves.”
On the field in his three seasons atop the Aggies program, Anderson has guided USU to a trio of bowl games.
His first year there was an 11-win campaign; Utah State has 12 total wins since that time.
Anderson was awarded a long-term contract extension through the 2027 season after that initial 11-win debut that captured national attention for the Aggies’ resurgence and Anderson’s personal journey.
It’s fair to note that Anderson’s fit at Utah State has been questioned since his arrival four years ago.
“There’s just something off there,” a college football assistant with familiarity with both parties told FootballScoop.
He stressed that statement neither was indictment of Anderson nor Utah State; merely an acknowledgement that the Anderson-USU pairing had been viewed as an odd couple since its inception. Since Anderson was hired, Utah State has had changes throughout the athletic department and Anderson has consistently had to address turnover within his assistant coaching staff as well.
Nate Dreiling, the newest member of the Utah State staff after Anderson hired him away from his post as New Mexico State defensive coordinator into the same role with the Aggies, has been named the interim head coach.
The 33-year-old has never been a head coach and never coached a game at Utah State.
That message also is clear: In tabbing Dreiling into the temporary top spot, Utah State is further distancing itself from Anderson.
The coming weeks should see a response from Anderson and Utah State, already clear in its intentions, could opt for “transparency” to release more details and documents from its probe.
Regardless, on a day Utah State moved to permanently alter the future course of its program, it ushered in countless more questions.
What does it mean for the 100-plus players, coaches and staffers still dedicated to Utah State football?
What made the timing right for this move right now, less than two months before kick-off?
If this probe reveals negligence from Anderson and issues on campus, what does justice look like?
For now, it looks like another personal obstacle for Anderson and a looming question mark for the Aggies, in an era when no Group of Five program, even in the calmest of campus waters, has all the answers for its future.