Tom Mars issues statement on Utah State firing Blake Anderson, calls out 'inflammatory' press release

On July 2, Utah State announced the dismissal of head football coach Blake Anderson. On Thursday, Anderson’s attorney, Tom Mars, released a statement on social media, condemning Utah State’s decision.

“We were disappointed to learn this evening that Utah State University has terminated the employment of head football coach Blake Anderson,” the statement read. “Coach Anderson’s legal team believes this decision — as well as USU’s deliberately inflammatory July 2nd press release — violate the terms of Coach Anderson’s Employment Agreement and the implied covenant of good faith.

“We will be pursuing all available legal remedies on his behalf. Coach Anderson will be issuing his own statement at the appropriate time.”

Utah State moved to dismiss Anderson after an investigation of alleged noncompliance of Title IX policies. The Utah State football coach had 14 days to respond under the terms of his employment agreement.

In a statement released earlier this month, the Aggies cited the investigation stemmed from “actions taken in spring 2023” that “violated both his employment agreement and university policy.” On Monday, Anderson submitted a written response to Utah State.

“On behalf of Coach Anderson, we submitted a 70-page response to USU’s Athletics Director earlier today,” Mars told On3 in a statement. “As a courtesy to the university, we won’t be commenting or releasing the response at least so long as coach Anderson is still employed by USU.”

Deputy athletic director for external affairs Jerry Bovee and director of player development Austin Albrecht were also fired “for violations of university policies related to the reporting of sexual and domestic violence and failures of professional responsibilities.”

Amy Crosbie, Utah State’s executive associate athletics director for internal affairs/senior woman administrator, was dismissed on July 9. 

“As many know, I was recently terminated by Utah State University,” Bovee said in a statement released on social media last week. “Currently, I am focused on filing a grievance pursuant to USU policy within 30 days of termination as I vigorously defend my reputation as a loyal Aggies alum and stellar Associate Vice President & Deputy Athletics Director.

“With decades of athletic leadership under my belt, I am a proven and firm supporter of Title X civil rights law. In my tenured career, I am proud to say I have never incurred disciplinary action or accusations of misconduct of any kind.”

Blake Anderson has a 23-17 record in three seasons at Utah State. He won the Mountain West Conference in his first season back in 2021. The 55-year-old coach was previously at Arkansas State, where the Red Wolves went 51-37 in six seasons.

On3’s Pete Nakos also contributed to this article.