Dan Murphy, ESPN Editor-in-Chief
The University of Utah’s athletic director and president told football coach Blake Anderson he was fired for trying to personally investigate the circumstances of a player’s domestic violence arrest, according to a termination letter obtained by ESPN on Friday.
Anderson contacted the girlfriend and roommate of a Utah State football player in April 2023 after learning the player had been arrested in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident, according to an investigation commissioned by the university. Anderson said he was on a “fact-finding mission” to determine whether the player should be suspended or take other action, according to an investigation report obtained through a public records request.
University officials received the final report, which was prepared by the law firm Husch Blackwell, on July 1. The school announced it had placed Anderson on leave on July 2 and made its decision to fire him official Thursday. A letter signed by athletic director Diana Sabau and university president Elizabeth Cantwell cited several reasons for Anderson’s firing but emphasized its efforts to “investigate” the player’s behavior rather than immediately reporting the issue to the university’s Office of Equity.
“Most outrageously, you conducted investigations into the domestic violence arrest, including meeting with and taking written statements from the potential victim and another witness,” the letter states. “You took these actions following an arrest and while a criminal investigation was underway.”
Anderson denied mishandling the situation through his attorney, Tom Mars. Mars said he would pursue “all legal remedies available” while claiming the school owed Anderson the buyout money guaranteed in his contract, a public apology and a retraction of his “defamatory press release.”
ESPN obtained an excerpt from the 70-page response Anderson submitted to Utah State earlier this week, which cited a “fake investigation” by the university and claimed the school intended to fire him for cause. The response said Anderson was not required to report any information about the incident, but that the coach informed Jeremy Bovee, who was then the school’s interim athletic director.
According to Anderson’s response, he “spent a little over a day trying to find out why his player was arrested and why, in order to determine if a report was necessary. The evidence demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that Coach Anderson met the requirements of all USU policies, including the unenforceable ones that USU improperly relied upon to terminate his employment.”
Sabau and Cantwell said Anderson’s responses “failed to acknowledge your responsibilities as a head coach” and “sought to make excuses.”
The university also fired Bovee and football staff member Austin Albrecht for violating university policies related to reporting domestic and sexual violence. Bovee announced last week that he plans to file a complaint, in accordance with university policy, and said he and two other Utah State employees reported an incident that occurred in April 2023 to the university’s Office of Equity.
Anderson told investigators he spoke with the unnamed football player the same day Albrecht informed him of his arrest. According to the report, when the player informed Anderson that his girlfriend would support him, Anderson contacted his girlfriend and the player’s roommate, who told him there had been no violent incident.
“Coach Anderson did not want to suspend the student-athlete if he had done nothing wrong, so he and Mr. Bovee decided to investigate and obtain more facts before taking further action,” the report states.
Anderson told investigators he did not know he had to report the arrest to the university’s Office of Equity because it occurred off campus and was “handled by authorities.”
“USU ignored what we said to tear their case apart. The die was cast. I would be surprised if USU would even consider our response,” Mars said in a statement provided to ESPN Friday. “Contrary to USU’s press releases, this dispute has nothing to do with any Title IX violation. None has even been alleged. Furthermore, the USU policy that Coach Anderson was falsely accused of violating is called ‘Non-Title IX Policy.’”
Utah State policy requires all coaches and athletic department administrators to submit a report of any incident of sexual misconduct to the school’s Title IX office within 24 hours of becoming aware of the incident. The university’s letter to Anderson said domestic violence incidents fall into that category.
In addition to the April 2023 incident, the university’s dismissal letter also states that Anderson allowed the football team’s academic performance to deteriorate under his leadership. The letter states that Utah State’s team had one of the 12 lowest scores among Division I schools on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate over the past two years.
“While I recognize that today’s decision has a significant impact, it is the only one that could be made based on the facts,” Cantwell said in a statement. “We are committed to moving forward in building a winning athletic program based on student achievement and integrity.”
Anderson won the Mountain West title at Utah State and has a 74-54 overall record as an FBS coach. The Aggies will open the 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Robert Morris.
Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling was named the Aggies’ interim coach for the 2024 season and represented the school last week at Mountain West media days. Dreiling was previously the defensive coordinator at New Mexico State.
Information from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg was used in this report.
