Fired Utah State football coach Blake Anderson claims he properly reported a player’s domestic violence case when he learned about it in April 2023 — and that the policy violations that led to his termination do not apply because the alleged conduct occurred off campus.
On Saturday, Anderson’s attorney, Tom Mars, released the 70-page rebuttal the former coach submitted to USU after the school notified him that it intended to fire him.
The release of the appeal comes two days after Utah State officially fired its football coach and a day after the Logan university provided The Salt Lake Tribune with the findings of the independent investigation that led to Anderson’s termination.
Anderson’s attorney called the investigation by Kansas City law firm Husch Blackwell a “sham” intended to find reasons to fire Anderson without having to pay his $4.5 million buyout.
“USU’s attempt to terminate Coach Anderson for ‘cause’ may be the worst blunder by a major university in the history of college sports,” Mars wrote, suggesting that attorneys’ fees and a potential settlement could end up costing the university millions.
The domestic violence case
The case at the heart 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 having a custody dispute outside the player’s apartment. The player allegedly grabbed the woman by the neck of her sweatshirt. She had bruises and small cuts around her neck, according to police.
The woman told an officer that she didn’t want the player 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, pleading no contest to assault in the presence of a child, while the count for domestic violence was dismissed. In a plea deal, the charges will be dismissed in six months if the player completes anger management classes and pays a $690 fine.
What Anderson says he did
The player “initially concealed” that he’d been arrested and then “concealed from them what he had been arrested for — if he even knew,” the rebuttal reads.
Anderson said he did not learn about the arrest until April 11, 2023. On that day, according to the coach’s rebuttal, the player said “he was arrested because the argument was in front of his apartment and a neighbor had called the police.” He then told Anderson he did not know what he would be charged with, the document said.
Anderson claimed he “left with the impression the player was arrested for disorderly conduct.”
Anderson’s attorney contends that the policies Anderson has been accused of violating “are not applicable to the off-campus incident.”
But the next day, according to the rebuttal, Anderson said he talked to with then-interim Athletics Director Jerry Bovee, who said they would file a “group report.”
Bovee, along with Director of Player Development Austin Albrecht were also terminated. Bovee has similarly denied any wrongdoing.
Contacting the alleged victim
Anderson’s most severe violations were that he failed to report the arrest to USU’s Office of Equity, and then tried to conduct his own investigation while keeping the player on the roster, according to the independent review.
“Instead of following the department’s typical practice, Coach Anderson chose to initiate his own investigative efforts that focused on gathering student athlete’s explanation about what happened and then seeking witness statements supporting his defense,” the findings state.
According to the fired coach’s rebuttal, the player said his roommate and the alleged victim would write statements saying that he did not assault the woman.
On April 12, the woman texted Anderson that she was “trying to drop this statement off.” Anderson replied that he was not in his office and said, “You can slide it under the door or bring it by in the morning if that’s ok ???”
The woman said she would bring it to him the next day.
On April 13, Anderson received written statements from the player’s alleged victim and forwarded them to Bovee, according to the rebuttal.
The statement said the player “did not lay his hands on me, has never placed a hand on, 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 sought to make excuses and unsuccessfully recast the clear language of USU’s policies.”
“While I recognize that today’s decision has a significant impact, it is the only one that could be made based on the facts,” USU President Elizabeth Cantwell said in a statement Thursday. “We are committed to moving forward in building a winning athletics program grounded in 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 July 2nd press release — violate the terms of Coach Anderson’s employment agreement and the implied covenant of good faith. We will be pursuing all available legal remedies on his behalf.”