Dan Murphy
Adam Rittenberg
Adam Rittenberg
ESPN Senior Author
School soccer reporter.
Joined ESPN.com in 2008.
Graduate of Northwestern College.
Utah State’s athletic director and college president informed soccer coach Blake Anderson that he was fired for trying to personally examine the circumstances of a participant’s home violence arrest, based on a termination letter obtained by ESPN on Friday.
Anderson contacted the girlfriend and roommate of a Utah State soccer participant in April 2023 after studying that the participant had been arrested due to an alleged home abuse incident, based on an investigation commissioned by the college. Anderson mentioned he was on a “fact-finding mission” to find out if the participant must be suspended or in the event that they wanted to take any additional motion, based on an investigative report obtained by way of public data request.
College officers obtained the ultimate report, which was performed by the Husch Blackwell regulation agency, on July 1. The varsity introduced it had positioned Anderson on go away on July 2 and formalized its resolution to fireside him on Thursday. A letter signed by athletic director Diana Sabau and college president Elizabeth Cantwell cited a number of causes for firing him, however highlighted his efforts to “examine” the participant’s conduct fairly than instantly report the problem to the college’s workplace of fairness.
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“Most egregiously, you engaged in investigative efforts concerning the home violence arrest, together with assembly with and amassing written statements from the potential sufferer and one other witness,” the letter states. “You undertook these actions following an arrest and whereas a legal investigation was ongoing.”
Anderson, by way of his lawyer, Tom Mars, disputes the declare that he contacted or interviewed the participant’s girlfriend. In keeping with Mars, Anderson solely realized of the character of the participant’s arrest by the participant’s roommate. Anderson then obtained a textual content message from the participant’s girlfriend, who mentioned she wished to cross alongside a press release that denied any bodily altercation with the participant. She dropped off her assertion on April 13, 2023.
Mars informed ESPN that Anderson by no means interviewed the participant’s girlfriend, and that Anderson’s name logs for April 2023 present no incoming or outgoing calls to the girlfriend.
“He could not have been ‘investigating a home assault’ he had no information of till the teammate informed him what had occurred,” Mars mentioned. “He instantly known as the interim AD [Jeremy Bovee].”
Mars mentioned that he’ll pursue “all obtainable authorized cures” whereas stating the college owed Anderson the buyout cash assured in his contract, a public apology and a retraction of its “defamatory press launch.”
ESPN obtained an excerpt of the 70-page response Anderson submitted to Utah State earlier this week, which cited a “sham investigation” by the college and claimed the college was intent on firing him for trigger. The response states Anderson was not required to report any details about the incident, however that the coach did inform then-interim athletic director Bovee.
In keeping with Anderson’s response, he “spent simply over a day looking for out what his participant was arrested for and why to find out whether or not any report was required. The proof reveals past query that Coach Anderson happy the necessities of all USU insurance policies — together with the inapplicable ones which USU mistakenly relied on in terminating his employment.”
Sabau and Cantwell mentioned that Anderson’s responses “did not acknowledge your obligations as head coach” and “sought to make excuses.”
The college additionally fired Bovee and soccer workers member Austin Albrecht for violating college insurance policies related to the reporting of home and sexual violence. Bovee final week introduced his intention to file a grievance, pursuant to college coverage, and mentioned he and two different Utah State staff reported an incident that occurred in April 2023 to the college’s workplace of fairness.
Anderson informed investigators that he spoke with the unnamed soccer participant on the identical day that Albrecht knowledgeable him the participant had been arrested. In keeping with the report, when the participant knowledgeable Anderson that his girlfriend would assist him, Anderson contacted the girlfriend and the participant’s roommate, who informed him nothing violent had occurred.
“Coach Anderson didn’t wish to droop [the] Pupil Athlete if he had not executed something fallacious, so he and Mr. Bovee determined to research and acquire extra details earlier than taking additional motion,” the report states.
Anderson informed investigators that he did not know he needed to report the arrest to the college’s workplace of fairness as a result of it occurred off-campus and was “handled by the authorities.”
“It did not matter to USU what we mentioned to tear their case to shreds. The die was forged. I might be stunned if USU even thought of our response,” Mars mentioned in a press release supplied to ESPN on Friday. “Opposite to USU’s press releases, this dispute has nothing to do with any violations of Title IX. None had been even alleged. What’s extra, the USU coverage Coach Anderson was falsely accused of violating is entitled ‘Non-Title IX Coverage.'”
Utah State coverage states that each one coaches and directors within the athletic division should submit a report about any incidents of sexual misconduct to the college’s Title IX workplace inside 24 hours of studying about them. The college’s letter to Anderson mentioned home violence incidents fall underneath this class.
Along with the April 2023 incident, the college’s termination letter additionally states that Anderson allowed the soccer workforce’s educational efficiency to deteriorate underneath his management. The letter mentioned Utah State’s workforce had one of many 12 lowest scores amongst Division I faculties on the NCAA’s Educational Progress Price throughout the previous two years.
“Whereas I acknowledge that immediately’s resolution has a big affect, it’s the just one that may very well be made primarily based on the details,” Cantwell mentioned in a press release. “We’re dedicated to shifting ahead in constructing a profitable athletics program grounded in pupil success and integrity.”
Anderson went 23-17 with a Mountain West title at Utah State and is 74-54 total as an FBS coach. The Aggies open the 2024 season on Aug. 31 towards Robert Morris.
Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling has been named the Aggies’ interim coach for the 2024 season and represented the college final week at Mountain West media days. Dreiling beforehand was defensive coordinator at New Mexico State.
