USU football OC hired by Minnesota
In an early 2020 surprise, Utah State’s offensive coordinator, Mike Sanford Jr., has reportedly been hired by the University of Minnesota’s football program to fill that same capacity in Minneapolis. The report first came via Yahoo Sports college football reporter Pete Thamel and corroborated minutes later by Brett McMurphy of Stadium who made the same report.
Sources: Minnesota is hiring Mike Sanford Jr. as offensive coordinator. Brings head coach experience at WKU and assistant experience at Notre Dame, Boise and Stanford to P.J. Fleck's staff. https://t.co/1ZP5jAMFK0
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 3, 2020
Utah State OC Mike Sanford Jr. is new offensive coordinator at Minnesota, source told @Stadium. Sanford also previously was coach at Western Kentucky (2017-18) & OC at Notre Dame & Boise State
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 3, 2020
Sanford Jr. only coached one season in Logan, being brought in alongside head coach Gary Andersen and defensive coordinator Justin Ena. The former headed an offense that finished third in the Mountain West, averaging 434.2 yards per game. This after Utah State’s record-breaking 2018 season under former head coach Matt Wells and then-OC David Yost that averaged 498.6 yards per game. Yost’s offense also contributed to setting a new Mountain West record for points in a season, 618, an average of 47.5 per game.
Though the 2019 Aggies faced a considerably tougher set of opponents than the 2018 team, along with the loss of several key offensive contributors and most of the O-line, regression among the offense was a theme all season. Jordan Love, who recently declared for the NFL Draft, attempted a USU single-season record 473 passes but threw far fewer touchdowns than his previous year (32 in 2018, only 20 in 2019) and nearly tripled his 2018 interception total. Love’s completion percentage also dropped, falling from 64.0 to 61.9.
With Sanford Jr. out, Utah State’s more veteran offensive players will have seen a third offensive coordinator in three seasons. Henry Colombi, the man with the inside track to be Love’s replacement at quarterback, will be one of said players as a redshirt junior in 2020.