Read Utah State coach Blake Anderson’s statement following his firing

Fired Utah State football coach Blake Anderson claims he properly reported a domestic violence incident against a player when he learned of it in April 2023. The policy violations that led to his firing do not apply because the alleged behavior occurred off-campus.

On Saturday, Anderson’s attorney, Tom Mars, released the 70-page defense the former coach filed with USU after the school announced it planned to fire him.

The appeal’s publication comes two days after Utah State officially fired its football coach and one day after Logan University provided The Salt Lake Tribune with the findings of the independent investigation that led to Anderson’s firing.

Anderson’s attorney called the investigation by Kansas City law firm Husch Blackwell a “sham” designed to find reasons to fire Anderson without paying his $4.5 million severance payment.

“USU’s attempt to fire Coach Anderson for ‘cause’ may be the biggest blunder by a major university in the history of college sports,” Mars wrote, suggesting that legal fees and a potential settlement could cost the university millions.

The Case of Domestic Violence

The case at the center of Anderson’s firing involves the April 5, 2023, arrest of an Aggie football player who has since transferred to another school. According to a North Park police report, the player and the mother of his child were in a custody dispute outside the player’s apartment. The player allegedly grabbed the woman by the neck of her jersey. She suffered bruises and minor cuts around her neck, police said.

The woman told an officer she did not want the player to be charged with a crime, but the officer said he had to arrest the player because of her injuries.

The athlete was later charged with two misdemeanors, entering a no contest plea to assault in the presence of a child, while the domestic violence charge was dismissed. Under a plea agreement, the charges will be dismissed within six months if the player takes anger management classes and pays a $690 fine.

What Anderson says he did

The player initially “hid” that he had been arrested and then “hid from them what he had been arrested for – if he knew what it was,” the rebuttal said.

Anderson said he did not learn of the arrest until April 11, 2023. On that day, according to the coach’s rebuttal, the player said “he was arrested because the altercation was in front of his apartment and a neighbor called the police.” He told Anderson at the time that he did not know what he would be charged with, the document said.

Anderson claimed he “gave the impression that the player had been arrested for misconduct.”

Anderson’s attorney argues that the policy Anderson is accused of violating “does not apply to the off-campus incident.”

But the next day, the rebuttal said, Anderson said he had spoken with then-interim Director of Athletics Jerry Bovee, who said they would file a “group report.”

Bovee, along with Director of Player Development Austin Albrecht, were also fired. Bovee has also denied any wrongdoing.

Contacting the alleged victim

According to an independent investigation, Anderson’s most serious violations were failing to report the arrest to the USU Office of Equity and then attempting to conduct his own investigation while keeping the player on the roster.

“Rather than following the department’s standard process, Coach Anderson chose to launch his own investigation, focusing on obtaining the student-athlete’s statement about what had happened and then requesting witness testimony to support his defense,” the findings said.

According to the fired coach’s defense, the player said his roommate and the alleged victim would write statements saying he did not assault the woman.

On April 12, the woman texted Anderson saying she was “trying to get this statement out.” Anderson responded that he was not in his office and said, “You can slide it under the door or drop it off in the morning if that’s okay???”

The woman said she would bring it to him the next day.

According to the rebuttal, Anderson received written statements from the player’s alleged victim on April 13 and forwarded them to Bovee.

The statement said the player “did not lay hands on me, never laid hands on me and never would. This is all based on a verbal argument.”

What’s next

USU expressed its “disappointment” in Anderson’s rebuttal, saying the former coach “failed to acknowledge his responsibilities as a USU employee and as a head coach and instead attempted to make excuses and rephrase the clear language of USU’s policies to no avail.”

“While I recognize that today’s decision has a significant impact, it is the only one that could have been made based on the facts,” USU President Elizabeth Cantwell said in a statement Thursday. “We are committed to continuing to build a winning athletics program based on student success and integrity.”

Mars released his own statement on social media: “Coach Anderson’s legal team believes this decision — as well as USU’s deliberately inflammatory press release on July 2 — violates the terms of Coach Anderson’s employment agreement and the implied covenant of good faith. We will pursue all available legal remedies on his behalf.”