USU: Ex-coach’s ‘fact-finding mission’ broke rules

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

Anderson contacted the girlfriend and the roommate of a Utah State football player in April 2023 and asked both to provide written statements about an altercation that led to the player’s arrest, according to an investigation commissioned by the university. Anderson, through his attorney, said the woman and the roommate provided statements without the coach asking for them. Investigators said Anderson told them he was on a “fact-finding mission” to determine whether the player should be suspended or whether they needed to take any further action, according to an investigative report obtained via public records request.

University officials received the final report, which was conducted by the Husch Blackwell law firm, on July 1. The school announced it had placed Anderson on leave on July 2 and formalized its decision to fire him Thursday. A letter signed by athletic director Diana Sabau and university president Elizabeth Cantwell cited several reasons for firing him but highlighted his efforts to “investigate” the player’s behavior rather than immediately report the issue to the school’s office of equity.

“Most egregiously, you engaged in investigative efforts regarding the domestic violence arrest, including meeting with and collecting written statements from the potential victim and another witness,” the letter states. “You undertook these actions following an arrest and while a criminal investigation was ongoing.”

Anderson, via his attorney, Tom Mars, disputes the claim that he contacted or interviewed the player’s girlfriend. According to Mars, Anderson learned of the nature of the player’s arrest through the player’s roommate. Anderson then received a text message from the player’s girlfriend, who said she wanted to pass along a statement that denied any physical altercation with the player. She dropped off her statement on April 13, 2023.

Mars told ESPN that Anderson never interviewed the player’s girlfriend and that Anderson’s call logs for April 2023 show no incoming or outgoing calls to the girlfriend.

“He couldn’t have been ‘investigating a domestic assault’ he had no knowledge of until the teammate told him what had happened,” Mars said. “He immediately called the interim AD [Jerry Bovee].”

Mars said he will pursue “all available legal remedies” while stating the school owed Anderson the buyout money guaranteed in his contract, a public apology and a retraction of its “defamatory press release.”

Mars shared on Saturday the full 70-page response Anderson submitted to Utah State earlier this week, which cited a “sham investigation” by the university and claimed the school was trying to create a legal argument for firing Anderson without paying his buyout. Anderson and Mars argue that the university’s policies did not require him to report the incident because it occurred at the player’s off-campus apartment and doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of a Title IX complaint.

Anderson’s response to the school also included copies of court documents for the case and written statements provided to Anderson by the player’s roommate and his girlfriend describing the incident. The roommate and the girlfriend said no violence occurred. Court documents state the player was arrested on charges of assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child.

According to Anderson’s response, he “spent just over a day attempting to find out what his player was arrested for and why to determine whether any report was required. The evidence shows beyond question that Coach Anderson satisfied the requirements of all USU policies — including the inapplicable ones which USU mistakenly relied on in terminating his employment.”

Sabau and Cantwell said Anderson’s responses “failed to acknowledge your responsibilities as head coach” and “sought to make excuses.”

The university also fired Bovee and football staff member Austin Albrecht for violating university policies connected to the reporting of domestic and sexual violence. Bovee last week announced his intention to file a grievance, pursuant to university policy, and said he and two other Utah State employees reported an incident that occurred in April 2023 to the university’s office of equity.

Anderson told investigators that he spoke with the unnamed football player on the same day that 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 nothing violent had occurred.

“Coach Anderson did not want to suspend [the] Student Athlete if he had not done anything wrong, so he and Mr. Bovee decided to investigate and obtain more facts before taking further action,” the report states.

Anderson told investigators that he didn’t know he had to report the arrest to the university’s office of equity because it occurred off-campus and was “dealt with by the authorities.”

“It didn’t matter to USU what we said to rip their case to shreds. The die was cast. I’d be surprised if USU even considered our response,” Mars said in a statement provided to ESPN on Friday. “Contrary to USU’s press releases, this dispute has nothing to do with any violations of Title IX. None were even alleged. What’s more, the USU policy Coach Anderson was falsely accused of violating is entitled ‘Non-Title IX Policy.'”

Utah State policy states that all coaches and administrators in the athletic department must submit a report about 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 said domestic violence incidents fall under this category.

In addition to the April 2023 incident, the university’s termination letter also states that Anderson allowed the football team’s academic performance to deteriorate under his leadership. The letter said Utah State’s team had one of the 12 lowest scores among Division I schools on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate during the past two years.

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

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