Former Utah State football coach Blake Anderson has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school, its vice president of legal affairs and its athletic director.
Anderson, 55, was fired in July after USU said he violated Title IX reporting requirements regarding an athlete’s assault case in the spring of 2023.
The lawsuit, which seeks $15 million in damages, says Anderson followed the school’s protocol correctly and claims that he was scapegoated for the university’s ongoing problems with the Department of Justice.
“As a result … Anderson has been left, to date, unemployable in the industry he has worked for over 30 years,” the lawsuit filed this week in1st District court states. “Multiple schools have expressed a high level of interest, but have stated that they are concerned about the optics …”
The lawsuit also claims that Aggie athletics director Diana Sabua “engaged in a public smear campaign against Anderson, in which she knowingly or recklessly makes false or misleading statements.”
The claims against Blake Anderson
Anderson was fired on July 18. He was accused of conducting his own “fact-finding mission” into the allegation behind a football player’s 2023 off-campus arrest for domestic violence — rather than immediately reporting it to the proper USU officials.
An investigation by the Kansas City law firm Husch Blackwell found that Anderson talked directly to the alleged victim about what she reported happened.
USU fired Anderson in July for “significant violations” of his contract and violating reporting requirements. Former deputy athletic director Jerry Bovee and Director of Player Development Austin Albrecht were also terminated. Amy Crosbie, who was the executive associate athletic director for internal affairs for nearly five years, was also terminated by the university at that time. No reason has been given.
Anderson and Bovee have both denied the allegations against them, saying they responded to the case according to procedure.
Utah State and the Department of Justice
The DOJ began looking into sexual misconduct and harassment within the football program, the school’s fraternities and sororities and its piano program in 2017.
But in August, the DOJ slapped the university with a notice of “substantial noncompliance.”
The agency said that USU was not adhering to a 2020 agreement to improve its response to reports of alleged sexual assault. The DOJ said that USU had “failed to take prompt, equitable, and effective steps to remedy an ongoing hostile environment within its football program.”
Blake Anderson’s USU tenure
Anderson went 23-17 during three years in Logan, leading Utah State to a Mountain West Conference title in 2021.
He had four years remaining on his contract when he was fired.
