Blake Anderson responds to allegations, faces termination – Deseret News

After being informed that Utah State University intended to terminate his employment, Aggies football coach Blake Anderson has retained college sports attorney Tom Mars, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement to ESPN, Mars said USU faces an “uphill battle” to fire Anderson for cause.

“To stiffen a head coach by blaming him for what his supervisor was supposed to do is a novel approach, but this theory will never hold up in court,” Mars told Thamel.

Utah State alleged Tuesday that an external investigation determined Anderson committed actions in the spring of 2023 that “violated both his employment contract and university policy” and constituted grounds for termination for cause.

USU Assistant Athletic Director Jerry Bovee and USU Director of Football Player Development Austin Albrecht were also fired from USU for alleged “violations of university policies related to reporting sexual and domestic violence and failures to meet professional responsibilities,” as previously reported by the Deseret News.

To comply with Utah public records laws and Utah State University policies, the university noted that it could not release any additional information until “all opportunities (for Anderson) to respond and/or appeal have expired, which is a minimum of 14 days.”

Mars is a nationally recognized attorney with experience as a “crisis consultant for businesses, executives and public officials,” according to his website.

In sports, Mars has dealt primarily with NCAA transfer rules, though he notably represented former Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt in a lawsuit — Houston Nutt v. University of Mississippi — in which Nutt alleged breach of contract by the University of Mississippi. Nutt obtained an undisclosed settlement in that case, as well as a public apology from Ole Miss.

Anderson has been the head football coach at Utah State since late 2020, when he was hired by then-athletic director John Hartwell to replace Gary Andersen.

Anderson led USU to a Mountain West Conference championship in his freshman year in 2021, then followed that performance with back-to-back 6-7 campaigns.

USU President Elizabeth Cantwell and Athletic Director Diana Sabau released a statement to university faculty and staff Tuesday regarding Anderson's pending dismissal.

“As leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that allegations of violations of USU policies 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 our conduct and to ensure that, for the sake of our students and our community, we live by our university’s values.”

“While recognizing the impact of these decisions on our student-athletes and our football program, we will continue to take the necessary steps to provide a respectful, transparent and winning culture at Utah State University.”