Utah State has officially fired head coach Blake Anderson for cause, two weeks after the school said it intended to fire him following an investigation into alleged Title IX violations. The situation stems from an April 2023 domestic violence incident, The Athletic has learned.
“This action is based on significant violations of his contractual obligations related to USU’s employee reporting requirements,” the school said in a statement. “These reporting requirements include a prohibition on employees outside the USU Office of Equity from investigating issues of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence. Additionally, Anderson failed to manage the team in a manner that reflects USU’s academic values.”
Anderson’s contract required a notice of intent to terminate and 14 days to respond. Anderson and his lawyer Tom Mars submitted a 70-page response on Monday.
“Coach Anderson’s legal team believes this decision — as well as USU’s deliberately inflammatory July 2 press release — violate the terms of Coach Anderson’s employment agreement and the implied covenant of good faith,” Mars said in a statement Thursday. “We will be pursuing all available legal remedies on his behalf.”
Mars added that Anderson would release a statement on the matter. By firing Anderson for cause, the school won’t pay a $4.5 million buyout.
The incident in question involves a former player who was arrested on April 5, 2023, on one misdemeanor count of domestic violence in the presence of a child and one misdemeanor count of assault. According to a police report, the player pulled on the hoodie of a female victim, leaving bruising marks on her neck. A witness said they heard the woman scream “Get off me” and “You’re choking me.” The player had a baby with him at the time.
In the school’s termination letter, athletic director Diana Sabau and president Elizabeth R. Cantwell alleged Anderson violated university policy requiring him to report the alleged crime to Utah State’s Title IX coordinator within 24 hours. They claimed Anderson “took it upon (himself) to investigate the matter” and “interviewed” the athlete, the potential victim and a witness to the event.
In Anderson’s response letter submitted this week, Mars claimed the incident did not fall under Title IX requirements because it took place off-campus, outside an apartment building, and that once Anderson became aware of the arrest, he did report it to deputy athletic director Jerry Bovee the next day. He claimed the player initially withheld from Anderson that he’d been arrested and that upon admitting it, claimed not to know what the charges were.
The player has pled no contest to the assault charge, while the domestic violence charge was dismissed with prejudice.
“To USU’s disappointment, Anderson’s response 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,” Utah State said of Anderson’s formal response.
Bovee, who was the interim AD in spring 2023, was also fired on July 2. Bovee said last week he intends to file a grievance with the school. A representative for Bovee said Thursday he has not done so yet but continues to go through the process. His deadline for a grievance is Aug. 1.
“Contrary to what has been represented, Bovee and two other USU employees did, in fact, report the incident to the USU Office of Equity,” his representative said in a statement last week. “Even so, the external review did not commence until the fall of 2023. And not until July 2, 2024, some eight months later, was Bovee summarily terminated, without an opportunity to respond to the results of the review.”
Anderson went 23-17 in three seasons, including an 11-3 record and a Mountain West championship in 2021, along with three bowl appearances. He was previously the head coach at Arkansas State.
Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling is Utah State’s interim head coach and represented the program at last week’s Mountain West media days. Dreiling joined the staff this offseason after two years at New Mexico State.
(Photo: Rob Gray / USA Today)
Source link : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5646658/2024/07/18/utah-state-fires-football-coach-blake-anderson/
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Publish date : 2024-07-19 00:41:15
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