Utah State University says it intends to fire Blake Anderson for noncompliance of Title IX policies. Now it appears that the Aggies football coach has every intention of fighting back.
Anderson was informed by the university on Tuesday that he was being fired after allegedly violating the school’s Title IX policies following a failure to report alleged sexual misconduct. This week, Anderson hired Tom Mars, an Arkansas college athletics attorney. Mars said USU will be facing an “uphill battle” in a statement to ESPN’s Pete Thamel in Anderson’s defense hours after the allegations surfaced.
“Stiffing a head coach by blaming him for what his supervisor was supposed to do is a novel approach, but that theory will never hold up in court,” Mars told Thamel.
Alongside Anderson, associate vice president and deputy athletic director of external affairs Jerry Bovee and Utah State football director of player development and community Austin Albrecht were also dismissed, Utah State announced, stemming from an alleged non-compliance of reporting sexual misconduct, domestic violence and overall failures of meeting their own professional responsibilities.
According to the university, the alleged misconduct took place in the spring of 2023, which was when Bovee was serving as the interim athletic director, months before current athletic director Diana Sabau was hired on Aug. 7, 2023.
In accordance with Utah State policies, Anderson will have 14 days to respond to the ruling and appeal the results of his termination.