Aggies reportedly hire Arkansas State’s Anderson as new football HC
From Gary Andersen to Blake Anderson, the Utah State football team reportedly has a new head coach just over a month after the firing of Gary on Nov. 7.
The reports first came from CollegeAD on Thursday morning saying sources told the outlet a deal was close. Later, Football Scoop made a similar report on its website, saying Anderson was a “strong candidate” to fill the vacancy. Ralph D. Russo of the AP has also confirmed the news, announcing that Anderson has “resigned” as coach of the Red Wolves.
Once made official, Anderson will take the helm of an Aggie football program that has had a rapid fall from grace ever since Matt Wells left in 2018, going from an 11-2 record in 2018 to 7-6 in 2019 and a current 1-5 record on the 2020 season.
Sources: Utah State nearing a deal to name Blake Anderson it's next football coach
📃https://t.co/GCdtQHwTUH— CollegeAD (@collegead) December 10, 2020
Blake Anderson has spent the last seven seasons, including the current one, at Arkansas State as the team’s head coach. In each of his first six seasons, the Red Wolves had a winning record and went to a bowl game. They also won two Sun Belt championships in 2015 and 2016 (were co-champions in 2016 with Appalachian State).
Overall, Anderson is 51-37 as head coach of Arkansas State. He has gone 38-18 against conference opponents and is 11-15 in non-conference games excluding bowl games. In the six bowl games he’s coached at ASU, Anderson is 2-4, the bowl wins coming in 2016 against Central Florida in the AutoNation Bowl and in 2019 against Florida International in the Camellia Bowl.
He has found success in producing dynamic offenses. Last season the Red Wolves averaged 33.7 points per game, the No. 26 best in FBS. In 2015, the offense averaged 40.0 points per game, No. 12 best in the FBS. In 2017, they averaged a No. 13 best 37.8 points per game.
Anderson got his start in coaching in 1992 as a graduate assistant for Eastern New Mexico and has made stops at Howard Payne, Trinity Valley, New Mexico, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana – Lafayette, Southern Miss, and North Carolina, where he was the offensive coordinator.
Arkansas State played Utah State twice while Anderson was the head coach. The Red Wolves defeated the Aggies 21-14 in overtime in 2014, and USU won the following matchup 30 to 24 in 2016.
Follow Jason Walker on Twitter at @jwalker_sports and Jacob Nielson at @jacobnielson12.