The Complex Legacy of Gary Andersen: The Iliad and Odyssey of Utah State Football
The Iliad and Odyssey of Utah State Football
Gary Andersen is seldom considered Utah State’s greatest coach of all time.
In his defense, it’s difficult to compete with a coach immortalized by history who, at the time, was the namesake of the stadium. Whether or not it’s a fair assessment of his impressive, transformative, and historic coaching performance at the university, he just isn’t often referred to as such.
His two different tenures with the Aggies are so contrasted that they stand to oppose each other, making any categorization of the coach impossible. So, generalized titles, vague absolutes, simple judgments, and hyperbole are not fit to describe Andersen or his career.
While he might not be considered the greatest, his reputation is anything but small. Andersen is a giant in his own right.
The complex legacy of Gary Andersen is a captivating saga for the ages, with a storyline and a character arc worthy of the silver screen. It speaks of the triumphs and the frailties of human nature, it has suspense, tragedy, comedy, irony, drama, and heartbreak.
Everyone knows Andersen’s name. Everyone has strong feelings about him. To some, he is a legend. To some, he is the opposite. He is an enigma.
Will there ever be a Gary Andersen statue at Utah State University? Probably not. Will Gary Andersen’s name be forever remembered? Absolutely. But how will the story of the two-time head coach be written?
Andersen’s legacy is almost paradoxical in nature. Andersen was the architect of one of the greatest turnarounds in Utah State history yet the reason another one was necessary.
Nothing about Andersen, or his legacy, is straightforward. His timing, his influence, his accomplishments, his departure, and his return is all a nuanced and complicated epoch. Andersen’s story begins long before he arrived at Utah State and will continue to even now that he’s gone.
Andersen’s onboarding was necessitated by a long period of mediocrity. After a rich early history, Utah State football had fallen into decades of irrelevance.
When he was a senior at Utah State, Bobby Wagner observed the state of the program commenting, “When I first came to Utah State, all football was looked at was a way to pass the time until basketball season. Coach Andersen has changed all of that. He came in and made an impact in the community. Football has come a long way. Coach Andersen has changed the entire outlook of the program. Now, when we play our spring game, the stands fill up like it’s a real game. People get excited about football now, and that’s because of coach Andersen.”
Utah State football was, indeed, in the midst of one of its darkest hours. Just as Wagner noted, “Andersen changed all that.”
The half-decade before Andersen’s arrival paints a clear picture of the state of the program at the time and reinforces Wagner’s observation of the bleak outlook. In those five years, Utah State had fired two coaches and amassed a record of 12-46. It had taken the Aggies five full seasons to collect a single season’s worth of wins and had done so by beating only six different teams. In that half-decade, Utah State had only beat Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and UNLV. In that same span, the Aggies also lost to each of those teams at least once and only had a winning record against two of them. Utah State went 1-3 against Fresno State, 1-3 against Hawaii, 3-2 against Idaho, 4-1 against New Mexico State, 1-3 against San Jose State, and 2-2 against UNLV.
In 2004, the Aggies were in their second and final year in the Sun Belt Conference and were led by Mike Dennehy in his fifth and final season. Utah State went 3-8 overall and 2-5 in-conference, tied with Idaho for last place in the Sun Belt. The Aggies were shut out once at Middle Tennessee, and on the season, were outscored by 333-184 which is a difference of 81%. They gave up a season-high of 49 points at Troy and gave up 48 twice, at Alabama and against no. 15 Utah.
In 2005, Brent Guy made his debut as Utah State’s head coach while Utah State made its debut in the Western Athletic Conference. Utah State again finished with an overall record of 3-8 going 2-6 in conference play, tied with Idaho for sixth place, finishing only above the 0-12 and 0-8 New Mexico State team. Utah State didn’t win any games at home and was outscored 360-208 for a difference of 73%. The Aggies weren’t shut out, but scored a season-low of 3 points at no. 5 Alabama. They allowed as many as 53 points in a loss at Fresno State.
2006 could be called Utah State’s worst season ever and is certainly in contention for that dreaded title. Utah State’s one-win season started with a four-game losing streak including losses to rivals Wyoming, BYU, and Utah. During that time, the offense couldn’t find the end zone or kick a field goal and the Aggies were outscored 144-7 with the only points coming from returned interception. Utah State finished the season tied with Louisiana Tech for last place in the WAC with a 1-11 overall record and 1-7 in-conference record. The one victory came at home in a 13-12 win over Fresno State. On the season, Utah State was outscored by an immense 225% with a score of 462-130, a difference of 332 points. Utah State gave up as many as 63 points to Colt Brennan’s Hawaii Warriors. They also gave up 49 points to no. 13 Boise State and they gave up 48 points twice, once to Utah and once to Louisiana Tech. Utah State gave up 40 or more points in seven of the 12 games and was shut out four times. That season, the Aggies scored only 15 touchdowns. They passed for nine and rushed for six meaning they lost more games than they had passing touchdowns.
In 2007, Guy’s penultimate season, after losing 10 straight games, Utah State beat New Mexico State and Idaho to finish the season. The Aggies went 2-10 overall, 0-5 at home, and 2-6 in the WAC. Utah State was shut out once and was outscored by 406-247 for a percentage of 64% on the season.
2008 was Guy’s final season at the helm for Utah State. Guy was fired on November 17th, just ahead of the season finale against New Mexico State, but would stay on for that game which the Aggies won 47-2. Utah State ended with an overall record of 3-9 and a conference record of 3-5. They were outscored 416-288, a difference of 44%.
The program was stuck in a purgatory of losing seasons. Each year, the program grew more and more distant from a strong history, slowly driving the all-time record deeper and deeper underground. That is, until Andersen arrived.
In a vacuum, Andersen’s four wins in his inaugural 2009 season might seem unimpressive, but it was Utah State’s most wins since 2002. The Aggies were also playing competitive football again, scoring as many as 53 points in a win against Southern Utah. They ended the season 4-8 and 3-5 and were outscored just 408-349, a mere 17% and a marked improvement from years past.
2010 was similar to the previous year. The Aggies had an identical overall record of 4-8, but digressed in-conference and finished 2-6. Utah State was outscored 405-264 or by 53%. The Aggies also gave the no .7 Oklahoma Sooners an “unexpected scare” in the first game of the season, falling just short of victory 31-24.
Then, in 2011, Utah State went 7-6. It was the first winning season since 1996 and the most total wins since 1993 when a team featuring redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Wells had the same record.
It was also the most regular season wins since 1979 when the Aggies won the Pacific Coast Athletic Association with an 8-3-1 record with wins against three schools, Pacific, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton, that no longer sponsor football. That year, Utah State also beat now-conference rival, Fresno State, in what was just their second matchup ever and their first-ever trip to Fresno.
Utah State’s 2011 conference record of 5-2 was good enough to tie with Nevada for second place in WAC. The Aggies also went 5-2 at home after three straight seasons of going 3-3. It was the first winning record on their home field since 2003 when Utah State went 3-9 winning three of only five home games.
At the time, the 2011 season could have easily felt like the peak. After being deprived of winning seasons for 15 seasons, the Aggies would have been satisfied staying at 7-6 for a few more years, maybe even decades. But for Andersen and his new-look Aggies, 2011 was merely a warning shot.
The 2011 season started with one of the most memorable losses of the era. In a season that served to put the world on notice, game one, with the defending national champions, the no. 19 Auburn Tigers hosting Utah State, was a microcosm of the season at large.
The Aggies led for most of the game and even led by double digits twice. Auburn was forced into an on-side kick and had to score twice in the final 2:07 to escape the Aggies. Utah State lost 42-38.
“The Aggies seemed poised for a stunning victory before Auburn’s final rally,” the Associated Press recapped, “(Auburn) managed to avoid an embarrassing opening loss against a team that has now lost 44 straight road games against Top 25 teams and was starting a freshman at quarterback.”
After the game, a dejected but confident Andersen went as far as to say “I felt like we were stronger than them. I felt like we were faster than them. I felt like they made plays when they had to, and we didn’t.”
The Auburn game was invigorating and motivating, yet heart-breaking and demoralizing. The Aggies likely left Alabama with a bit of cognitive dissonance and went on with their season. They won one, lost two, won one, lost two.
When the Aggies got to Hawaii for game eight, they had led in every single game they had played and hadn’t lost a game by more than 10 points, but they couldn’t get themselves over .500.
There was a 35-34 overtime loss against Colorado State when the Rams scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion with 42 seconds in regulation to tie the game. Then in overtime, the Aggies failed to convert a two-point attempt and lost by a point.
Then, a 27-24 loss at BYU where backup quarterback Jake Heaps threw a touchdown pass with just 11 seconds left in the game to sneak by Utah State.
There was a 10-point loss to Derek Carr and Fresno State and a seven-point loss to Louisiana Tech. The Aggies were leading both Bulldog teams until the mid-fourth quarter.
Utah State was playing intense, competitive, gritty football, but the results weren’t yet apparent. Then on November 5th, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, something clicked.
Utah State came into the game 2-5 on the season. During the first half, star quarterback Chuckie Keeton was carried off in a stretcher after an apparent neck injury and Utah State trailed 28-7 at halftime.
But in the second half, the Aggies outscored the Warriors 28-3 and in a refreshing twist, Robert Turbin ran in a touchdown with 14 seconds left to take the lead. The Aggies won the game 35-31 in a hard-fought, well-earned, and most of all, a much-needed victory. With the win, the Aggies improved to 3-5 on the season and notched their first conference win.
This sparked a five-game win streak and put the Aggies on the right side of close games. Utah State was playing intense, competitive, and gritty football, just as before, but now, they were the ones coming out ahead in the win column when the dust settled.
In a set of games that almost mirrored the games before Hawaii, Utah State beat San Jose State 34-33 at home scoring 27 in the second half in another come-from-behind victory of their own.
Then they held off the University of Idaho in a 49-42 overtime victory. After nearly blowing another fourth-quarter lead, the Aggies scored two touchdowns in overtime to put the Vandals on ice.
The 2011 season ended with Utah State’s first bowl invitation since 1997. A last-second loss to Ohio in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl capped off Utah State’s dramatic season.
In 2012 Utah State saw real, objective, genuine success, not just relative success compared to a decade of failed campaigns.
In game two, the Aggies beat the Utes for the first time since 1997 in a 27-70 overtime win in Logan. The Aggies were led by Keeton who later said, “It’s the biggest win I’ve been a part of. Seeing the fans rush the field was incredible… Many said this is the biggest thing that’s happened around here in a long while.”
After going undefeated in conference play, the Aggies were named outright WAC champions, winning their conference for the first time since 1997, when the Aggies were the co-champions of the Big West with Nevada. This was the first outright conference championship since 1936 when Utah State, led by E.L “Dick” Romney, won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Utah State is also technically considered the 1979 outright champion of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, now known as the Big West. At the time, however, Utah State was named co-champions with San Jose State, but later the Spartans were forced to vacate wins because of the use of an ineligible player, so Utah State was retroactively named outright champions.
Utah State was invited to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl where they routed Toledo for their first bowl win since 1993. With that historic bowl win, they finished the 2012 season with a record of 11-2, Utah State’s first ever 10+ win season.
Landing at no. 16 in the nation, Utah State finished the season in the Top 25 for the first time since 1962, when John Ralston’s Aggies went 9-1-1 and finished at no. 10 in the nation.
By the end of 2012, Utah State was on its hottest run in decades. The Aggies ended the season on a seven-game win streak and going back to mid-2011, since the Hawaii game, Utah State was 16-3 in its last 19 games, losing three games by a combined total of 8 points.
In just four years, the Aggies had gone from a three-win team to a two-loss team. Gary Andersen had transformed the program from a team on the brink of collapse into a team with a conference championship and a bowl game victory.
This would be Andersen’s last season of his first tenure at Utah State. So far, Andersen had left a strong legacy at Utah State. A legacy that would only grow as his understudy and successor continued to drive the Aggies to new heights. Andersen had set the course and left the team with a cup runneth over with talent, success, and potential.
Andersen handed the reins to Wells and said goodbye to the no. 18 team in the country, leaving a 26-24 record behind to join the Wisconsin Badgers.
If the story ended there, Andersen would be remembered only as the hero of the program. But the story doesn’t end there, and the complexities of Andersen’s legacy were beginning to brew.
The years went on and Utah State continued the precedent set by Andersen. Stumbling just a few times as the Aggies adjusted to their new conference and acclimated to a permanent winning culture. The years in Andersen’s absence weren’t without growing pains, but the Aggies kept up their new-found tradition of victory.
Then Andersen returned.
Andersen’s second tenure began when his old job opened back up after his successor took a job at Texas Tech following the 2018 season. Andersen was no longer with the Badgers. He had left Wisconsin, made a stop at Oregon State, and was back at the University of Utah.
Years ago, Wells inherited from Andersen a program in great shape. Now, Wells returned the favor and handed over a team loaded with talent. With Andersen back at the helm, the Aggies faced high expectations.
Andersen’s first season back was clouded by those expectations. The Aggies ended the season bowl eligible and accepted an invitation to the Frisco Bowl where they lost to Kent State. Utah State ended the season 7-6.
Measured against the steep expectations for star quarterback Jordan Love’s senior year, the 2019 season was considered by many to be a failure, although it really wasn’t. The failure came later. Under normal circumstances, regression from an 11-2 season to a 7-6 season is perfectly acceptable. It would create an average record of 9-4 between the two seasons without compromising the team’s winning culture or tradition. The caveat to that being, 7-6 has to be the extent of the regression, and improvements should follow.
If Andersen could have followed his lackluster 2019 season with another 11-2 season or a conference championship, there would be no complexities to his legacy. He would likely be considered, or at least be on the path to be considered, the greatest thing to ever happen to Utah State football.
While a defense of Andersen’s 2019 season is justifiable, there is not much to defend in the 2020 season.
The season was ravaged and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. When the season finally started, it started poorly. The Aggies went 0-3 in three non-competitive games to start the season, but the worst was yet to come. After a disappointing 34-9 loss to Nevada, things began to change. Andersen, the once-lauded coach, was out of a job. After losing their next game to Fresno State, the Aggies were halfway through their scheduled regular season and things kept changing. Now, Utah State needed a new signal caller. Jason Shelley, after following Andersen from the Utes to the Aggies, was kicked off the team.
After that, Andrew Peasley was ruled out for the upcoming Wyoming game, so Cooper Legas was named the starter for a game that would never happen. The game was canceled due to COVID-19 cases within the Utah State program.
By the time the Aggies finally took the field again, they had gone from their first string quarterback, to their second string, to their third string, and back to their second string. Everything was starting to come off the rails.
This chaos was just the start, and it was about to get worse. When Andersen and the university parted ways, it set off a firestorm for the program. Frank Maile, the co-defensive coordinator, was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Then, likely feeling pressure from an increasingly messy situation around the football team, athletic director John Hartwell got to work, quickly finding a worthy replacement to lead the team.
He elected not to make Maile the full-time head coach and instead hired Blake Anderson from Arkansas State. Anderson’s strong résumé and electric personality made him an undeniably attractive candidate for the job.
Utah State didn’t officially introduce Anderson until December 12th, but the news had already started to break.
On December 11th, the day before the Aggies were set to play the Rams in the season finale, the players released a statement through Stadium’s Brett McMurphy. McMurphy reported, “Utah State’s players have opted out of Saturday’s game at Colorado State because of comments by university President Noelle Cockett on Tuesday voicing her concerns about interim Head Coach Frank Maile’s religious and cultural background.”
The alleged comments, which supposedly happened during a video conference, were thoroughly investigated and the findings were released.
An external review was initiated by both the USU Board of Trustees and Utah Board of Higher Education. The investigation concluded there was no wrongdoing by Cockett nor Hartwell. The findings that exonerated the university read, in part, “We conclude that the inclusivity concerns raised by Pres. Cockett were designed to promote a discussion with athletes about the degree to which they felt included and welcomed at Utah State”
In terms of on-field results, 2020 is one of the worst seasons Utah State has ever had and is rivaled only by 2006 in recent history. From a comprehensive point of view, the 2020 season is quite possibly rock bottom for Aggie football and one of the darkest times in Utah State athletics history.
The season started with an 0-4 start and ended with the players refusing to take the field for their final game, the program declining into disarray, and Utah State University making headline news for all the wrong reasons.
The Aggies officially ended the season with a 1-5 record, although the conference determined that the refusal to play against the Rams would result in a forfeit for conference standings. The Mountain West website reads, “Colorado State received a forfeit win over Utah State and the Aggies received a forfeit loss. The win and loss are reflected in the 2020 conference-only standings and, per the NCAA, do not count toward either institution’s overall won-loss record.”
So, Utah State ended the season with a mind-boggling overall record of 1-5 and a conference record of 1-6 on a proposed 8-game schedule.
In just two years, the Aggies had gone from a two-loss team to a one-win team. Andersen had transformed the program from a nationally relevant G5 powerhouse into a team on the brink of collapse.
Andersen’s second tenure was reminiscent of the very mediocrity he rescued the team from during his first. Just as his first tenure was necessitated by a desperate need for rescue, his second tenure necessitated the need for a rescue as bold and effective as his own.
The two separate stints at Utah State are best described by the words in the introductory paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Instead of contrasting London and Paris during the French Revolution, Charles Dickens may as well have been commenting on the stark difference between the periods of unfettered success and abject failure overseen by Andersen in his two separate rounds of coaching the Aggies.
