Former Utah State football coach Blake Anderson files lawsuit against school

LOGAN — Former Utah State University head football coach Blake Anderson filed a lawsuit against the school on Tuesday claiming “significant damages and reputational harm” for breach of contract.

The lawsuit comes four months after USU fired Anderson after an investigation found that he failed to comply with Title IX policies when handling a situation with a player in 2023. The lawsuit claims USU terminated his employment “for convenience” rather than “for cause,” as addressed in his employment contract.

The compensatory damages Anderson claims in the suit exceed $15 million, due to his plans to coach “on an upward trajectory for at least another 10 years.”

A player arrested

According to USU, when Anderson learned the player had been involved in a sexual misconduct case, he went on his own “fact-finding mission” to determine what possible consequences the player should face. USU argued Anderson failed to report the misconduct according to the school’s Title IX policies.

The lawsuit argued Anderson’s firing boiled down to the “one, single incident,” and it detailed the incident as such:

Depending on which witness one believes, the former USU football player: (a) pulled the string on his girlfriend’s hoodie; or (b) held the door shut so that she could not enter his apartment as she tried to force her way in; or (c) as she maintains to this day, never laid a hand on her at all in a manner to harm her.

Contrarily, it was previously reported a witness told police a different story — they saw a man on top of a woman, holding her down on the ground as she cried and yelled “get off me,” and “you’re choking me.”

Anderson said in the lawsuit Tuesday that he was not immediately informed of the player’s arrest. Further, Anderson discussed the player’s transfer before his arrest on April 4, 2023 — the player said he was considering a transfer and would decide soon. He was arrested the next day.

Anderson’s ‘investigation’ detailed

“The player initially concealed from Coach Anderson and members of the coaching staff that he had been arrested,” the suit states.

After hearing rumors of the player’s arrest, “out of an abundance of caution,” he called Interim Athletic Director, Jerry Bovee, and reported to him the rumors he heard — a move the lawsuit suggests was done in accordance with the Student-Athlete Handbook.

Anderson called the player into his office the same day and “confronted him about the rumors” of his arrest.

While in Anderson’s office, the player called the girlfriend and put her on speakerphone with the player still present. The woman told Anderson, “unsolicited,” that she had not been hurt during the argument with the player.

The lawsuit noted that Anderson did not initiate contact with the woman or ask for anything in writing.

Anderson then asked the woman if she was sure she hadn’t been hurt because “if she said yes, Anderson would have sought to remove the player from the team.”

The following day the player’s girlfriend provided a written statement of her own accord, the lawsuit stated. Anderson also reached out to the player’s roommate, who was also a player, and met with him that same evening, on April 13, 2023.

“The player informed Anderson during that meeting that he wanted to provide a written statement. He was not asked to do so, but said he wanted to because he did not feel the situation had been handled properly by law enforcement,” the suit states. “Later that day, Anderson followed up via text about the statement Anderson was expecting, asking him not to forget it.”

Both statements were forwarded to Bovee, the suit said.

Alleged employment interference

The lawsuit said that in the following months, USU’s Office of Equity failed to investigate or follow up on the report. It continued to say that USU allowed the player to transfer schools and did not report any safety concerns to the new school.

The investigation into the incident “began only after USU began searching for a reason to fire Coach Anderson at the personal behest and insistence of (USU Legal Affairs Vice President) Mica McKinney,” the lawsuit said, further alleging that McKinney “interfered with Anderson’s employment” in order to distract attention from her own past wrongdoings.

McKinney, according to the lawsuit, failed to follow Title IX and USU policies about sexual abuse allegations.

Further, the lawsuit alleges that Vice President and now-Athletics Director Diana Sabau “knowingly or recklessly” made inflammatory public statements against Anderson.

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