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Blake Anderson, the Utah State Aggies coach, has been under fire. On Tuesday, his future with the program was revealed.
College Football insider Pete Thamel tweeted that the Aggies coach won't be returning to the role, and his interim replacement will be the defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling.
"Utah State football coach Blake Anderson on leave, not expected to return. Defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling has been named the interim coach."
Blake Anderson had been in charge of Utah State since 2021. In three seasons in charge of the program, Anderson had his highest point during the first year of his tenure.
Anderson transformed the Aggies from a one-win team the season before to Mountain West Conference champions, winning their first conference title since 2012.
He would not be able to live up to this success in the two seasons after their conference win, but Anderson led Utah State to two respectable six-win seasons. That gave the Aggies Bowl game appearances, which they would lose both of then.
The low point of Anderson's time with the program has happened recently. According to reports, an external investigation found non compliance of Title IX procedures in relation to sexual misconduct and that Anderson had allegedly investigated a sexual misconduct disclosure,in violation of the rules.
For this, Utah State announced the suspension of Blake Anderson in a statement that read:
"Utah State University officials informed Head Football Coach Blake Anderson on Tuesday of their intent to terminate his employment agreement for actions taken in spring 2023. These actions violated both his employment agreement and university policy. Under his employment agreement Coach Anderson will have 14 days to respond."
Who has replaced Blake Anderson as Utah State coach?
The suspension of Blake Anderson has led to a change in the hierarchy of the Utah State Aggies program.
Replacing Anderson will be the newly hired defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling. This will be Dreiling's first time being the head coach of a program, having only been a defensive coordinator for two seasons before.
Those two seasons were with the New Mexico State Aggies, where under head coach Jerry Kill, he was involved in the Aggies team that made the 2023 Conference USA championship game, which New Mexico lost to the Liberty Flames.
It tells us that Dreiling has some ability to lead the defensive side of the ball, and this was the job he intended to do with Utah State. However, he has now been almost catapulted to a role he has no experience in.
Utah State's opening game is against Robert Morris on Aug. 31. But from there, things will get a lot tougher for Dreiling and the Aggies, as they face the USC Trojans a week later.
