Former Utah State coach Blake Anderson intends to sue his former employer for wrongful termination, the ex-Aggies coach introduced Wednesday. Anderson’s attorneys launched a press release, accusing Utah State directors and athletic director Diana Sabau of main “what is actually a public smear marketing campaign” towards the previous coach.
“The general public enviornment is usually not the popular place for a lot of these disputes to be aired, however given the quantity of misinformation that has been publicly acknowledged and launched by USU, and extra notably Ms. Sabau, Coach Anderson herein states publicly and with certainty that he utterly denies having engaged in any wrongdoing, and appears ahead to the reality and particulars underlying that reality being revealed by the suitable course of – in a court docket of regulation earlier than a particular jury of his friends,” the assertion reads.
Utah State fired Anderson on July 19 after an inner investigation concluded he had violated the college insurance policies regarding Title IX.
“This motion relies on vital violations of his contractual obligations associated to US’s worker reporting necessities,” the varsity stated in a press release. “These reporting necessities embrace a prohibition on workers outdoors the USU Workplace of Fairness from investigating problems with sexual misconduct, together with home violence. Moreover, Anderson did not handle the crew in a fashion that mirror’s USU’s educational values.”
Utah State advised ESPN that Anderson contacted the girlfriend and roommate of a Utah State soccer participant who was arrested for alleged home violence in April 2023. Anderson advised faculty directors he was on a “fact-finding mission” to find out what punitive measures, if any, Utah State ought to soak up response to the incident.
A letter laying out the explanations for Anderson’s firing cited his private investigation and accused him of trying into the participant’s habits fairly than instantly reporting the difficulty to the college’s Workplace of Fairness
The 55-year-old Anderson was set to return for his fourth season with the Aggies, who open their 2024 slate on Aug. 31 towards Robert Morris. Anderson was employed to interchange Gary Andersen at Utah State in 2021 after seven years at Arkansas State.
Anderson instantly led the Aggies to an 11-3 report with a Mountain West title and a win over Oregon State within the Los Angeles Bowl. The Aggies additionally positioned twenty fourth within the last AP Prime 25, the primary time they completed the 12 months ranked since 2018 and simply their third ranked end of the century.
Utah State hasn’t loved as a lot success over the previous two years, nonetheless. The Aggies have gone 6-7 in every of the final two seasons with a 9-7 mark in MWC play throughout that span. They’ve additionally misplaced two consecutive bowl video games and have completed no higher than tied for third within the Mountain West’s Mountain division.
Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling will function Utah State’s interim coach for the 2024 season.
