Gary Anderson gets contract extension
Just when Aggie fans thought the football season was going about as well as it could, it took an even better turn.
Head football coach Gary Andersen signed a contract extension Thursday, ensuring his stay at Utah State through the 2018 season.
“It is extremely important to me that we keep Gary and his staff in Logan long-term and I know in my conversations with him this is exactly what he wants,” said USU Athletic Director Scott Barnes in a press release. “We know what we have in Coach Andersen. We didn’t need to wait around until the end of the season to get this deal done.”
It’s the second-straight season that Andersen has signed a contract extension and this means Andersen could make up to $765,000 annually with incentives.
But for Andersen, the biggest part of this contract was the benefits for assistant coaches, who will receive an annual salary increase.
“This contract will also help us retain quality assistant coaches, which is a very important step as we move forward and into the Mountain West Conference,” Andersen said. “I have learned over the past three and a half years that this is a very special University and community. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be the head football coach at Utah State University.”
The Aggies are off to a 4-1 start in Andersen’s fourth year at the helm, the program’s best start since the 1978 team started the season 5-0. Andersen has taken over a Utah State program that has struggled in recent years, against in-state teams in particular.
Under Andersen, the Aggies are 5-3 and have earned victories over each of their in-state opponents, the most recent being the “Battle of the Brothers” win over Utah on Sept 7.
Utah State travels to Provo to face Brigham Young on Friday in the “Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel.”
A win against BYU in Provo would be USU’s first since 1974 and clinch the “Beehive Boot,” the symbol of football supremacy in the state. The Aggies have won the boot seven times, most recently in 2010 by a media vote.
Aggie football players have earned academic all-WAC honors 66 times, including a conference-high 18 in 2011. The Aggies also saw three players drafted in last season’s NFL draft in Robert Turbin (Seattle), Bobby Wagner (Seattle) and Mike Smith (Tampa Bay).
–curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @curtislundstrom