Utah State – Blake Anderson’s ‘fact-finding mission’ breaks rules

Utah State’s athletic director and the university’s president told football coach Blake Anderson he was fired for trying to personally investigate the circumstances of a player’s domestic violence arrest, according to a termination letter obtained by ESPN on Friday.

According to an investigation commissioned by the university, Anderson contacted the girlfriend and roommate of a Utah State football player in April 2023 after learning the player had been arrested in connection with an alleged domestic abuse incident. Anderson said he was on a “fact-finding mission” to determine whether the player should be suspended or if they needed to take any further action, according to an investigative report obtained through a public records request.

University officials received the final report, which was conducted by the Hush Blackwell law firm, on July 1. The school announced they placed Anderson on leave on July 2 and made their decision to fire him official Thursday. A letter signed by athletic director Diana Sabau and university president Elizabeth Cantwell outlined several reasons for his dismissal, but highlighted his efforts to “investigate” the player’s conduct instead of immediately reporting the issue to the university’s equity office.

“Most seriously, you engaged in investigative efforts regarding the domestic violence arrest, including interviewing and collecting written statements from the potential victim and another witness,” the letter said. “You took these steps after an arrest and while a criminal investigation is ongoing.”

Anderson, through his attorney, Tom Mars, has denied mishandling the situation. Mars said he would pursue “all available legal remedies” after the school asked Anderson for the buyout money guaranteed in his contract, a public apology and a retraction of its “defamatory press release.”

ESPN obtained a portion of the 70-page response Anderson submitted to Utah State earlier this week, which cited a “conduct investigation” by the university and claims the school intended to fire him for cause. The response said Anderson was not required to report the incident, but did so to coach Jeremy Bowie, who was then the school’s interim athletic director.

According to Anderson’s response, he “spent just over a day trying to determine what his player was arrested for and why a report was necessary. The evidence shows beyond question that Coach Anderson satisfied the requirements of all USU policies — including The grounds upon which USU erroneously terminated his employment are inapplicable.”

Sabau and Cantwell said Anderson’s response “failed to acknowledge your responsibility as a head coach” and “wanted to make excuses.”

The university fired Bowie and football staff member Austin Albrecht for violating university policies related to domestic and sexual violence reporting. Bowie announced his intention to file a complaint last week in accordance with university policy and said he and two other Utah State employees reported an incident to the university’s equity office in April 2023.

Anderson told investigators he spoke with the unnamed football player the day Albrecht informed him the player had been arrested. According to the report, when the player informed Anderson that his girlfriend would support him, Anderson contacted the girlfriend and the player’s roommate, who told him that nothing violent had happened.

“Coach Anderson did not want to dismiss the student athlete if he had done nothing wrong, so he and Mr. Bowie decided to investigate and get more information before taking further action,” the report said.

Anderson told investigators he didn’t know he had to report the arrest to the university’s Office of Equity because it happened off campus and was “dealt with by the authorities.”

“It doesn’t matter to USU what we said to shred their case. The die was cast. I would be surprised if USU considered our response,” Mars told ESPN on Friday. said in a statement. “Contrary to USU’s press release, this dispute has nothing to do with any violation of Title IX. No one has even been charged. What’s more, USU policy coach Anderson was falsely accused of violating ‘non-Title IX policy’.”

Utah State policy states that all coaches and administrators in the athletic department must submit a report of any incidents of sexual misconduct to the school’s Title IX office within 24 hours of learning about them. The university’s letter to Anderson states that incidents of domestic violence fall into this category.

In addition to the April 2023 incident, the university’s termination letter also stated that Anderson allowed the football team’s academic performance to deteriorate under his leadership. Utah State’s team had one of the 12 lowest scores among Division I schools in the NCAA’s academic progress rate over the past two years, the letter said.

“While I recognize that today’s decision has a significant impact, it is the only case that can be based on the facts,” Cantwell said in a statement. “We are committed to moving forward in building a winning athletics program based on 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 Aug. 31 against Robert Morris.

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