Gary Andersen

Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964)[1] is an American football coach who was most recently head football coach at Utah State University. Andersen has also been the head football coach of Southern Utah (2003), Wisconsin (2013–2014), and Oregon State (2015–2017). He served three years as the defensive coordinator at Utah, where he coached the 2008 Utes team that went undefeated and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish the season ranked second in the nation. He is currently an analyst at Weber State.

For those of a similar name, see Gary Anderson (disambiguation).
Gary Andersen
Current position
TitleAnalyst
TeamWeber State
ConferenceBig Sky
Biographical details
Born (1964-02-19) February 19, 1964
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Playing career
1983–1984Ricks College
1985–1986Utah
Position(s)Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1989–1991Ricks College (OL)
1992–1993Idaho State (DL)
1994Park City HS (UT)
1995–1996Northern Arizona (AHC/DL/ST)
1997–2000Utah (DT/SDE)
2001–2002Utah (AHC/DT/ST)
2003Southern Utah
2004Utah (DL)
2005–2008Utah (AHC/DC/DL)
2009–2012Utah State
2013–2014Wisconsin
2015–2017Oregon State
2018Utah (AHC / defensive assistant)
2019–2020Utah State
2021–presentWeber State (analyst)
Head coaching record
Overall63–70
Bowls1–3
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 WAC (2012)
1 Big Ten West Division (2014)

Playing career

Andersen began his football career playing at Cottonwood High School, where he lettered in football for two years. After high school, he played center at Ricks College (now Brigham Young University–Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, for two seasons. As a freshman he was second team All-Conference and Ricks finished the season ranked fourth in the nation. In 1984, he was a First Team All-America selection and team captain as he helped Ricks to a number two ranking in the nation. He transferred to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he lettered two years for the Utes and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in political science.

Coaching career

Utah

Andersen returned to his alma mater in 1997, when he was hired by Ron McBride, his former offensive line coach with the Utes, to be defensive tackles coach. After McBride was fired as Utah's head coach at the end of the 2002 season, he left to be head coach at Southern Utah University. Andersen only spent one season with the Thunderbirds and returned to Utah in 2004 when he was hired by Urban Meyer as the defensive line coach. He was the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2005 to 2008 and was a 2008 finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.

First stint at Utah State

Andersen was the head coach at Utah State for four seasons, beginning with 4–8 records in 2009 and 2010. His first winning season at Utah State came in 2011 (7–6) and his fourth and final year was the most successful, as the 2012 Aggies won 11 games and lost only two (the two losses were by 2 and 3 points against Wisconsin and BYU, respectively), and finished #16 in the final AP poll.

Wisconsin

Andersen was introduced as the new head coach at Wisconsin (which beat Utah State in an early season game in 2012) on December 21, 2012 to replace Bret Bielema, who left for Arkansas.[2] After Andersen decided to leave Utah State for the Wisconsin job, he called every one of his players at Utah State individually to inform them personally of his decision.[3] In 2013, Andersen's first win as a Wisconsin coach was a 45–0 win against Massachusetts. Andersen's final 2013 record was 9–4.

The 2014 regular season ended with the Badgers taking 1st place in the West division with a 10–2 record. Wisconsin played Ohio State for the conference title in the 2014 Big Ten Championship Game where the Badgers lost to Ohio State 59–0. Andersen left Wisconsin four days later, having taken the vacant head coaching position at Oregon State.[4] Andersen cited family as his rationale for taking the Oregon State position while it was reported by some media outlets, such as Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, that Andersen was frustrated with Wisconsin's high admissions standards for athletes.[5][6] Those reports turned out to be accurate, and were confirmed by Andersen in January 2015.[7]

Andersen had to pay a $3 million buyout for departing within the first two years of his contract, which was set through January 2019.[8]

Oregon State

Andersen was announced as the new head coach of Oregon State on December 10, 2014. Andersen replaced the previous coach at Oregon State, Mike Riley, who left for the same position at Nebraska.[9] On October 9, 2017, Andersen and Oregon State football parted ways with him forgoing $12 million left on his contract.[10]

Return to Utah

On January 2, 2018 it was announced that Andersen would be returning to Utah for a 3rd time as an associate head coach and defensive assistant.[11]

Second stint at Utah State

On December 9, 2018, Andersen was named head coach at Utah State for the second time, replacing the man who replaced him six years earlier in Matt Wells, who left for the Texas Tech head coaching job.[12] Utah State fired Andersen on November 7, 2020, after the team started 0–3.[13]

Head coaching record
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Southern Utah Thunderbirds (NCAA Division I-AA independent) (2003)
2003 Southern Utah 4–7
Southern Utah: 4–7
Utah State Aggies (Western Athletic Conference) (2009–2012)
2009 Utah State 4–83–5T–5th
2010 Utah State 4–82–67th
2011 Utah State 7–65–2T–2ndL Famous Idaho Potato
2012 Utah State 11–26–01stW Famous Idaho Potato1716
Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Conference) (2013–2014)
2013 Wisconsin 9–46–22nd (Leaders)L Capital One2122
2014 Wisconsin 10–37–11st (West)Outback[lower-alpha 1]17[lower-alpha 1]17[lower-alpha 1]
Wisconsin: 19–713–3
Oregon State Beavers (Pac-12 Conference) (2015–2017)
2015 Oregon State 2–100–96th (North)
2016 Oregon State 4–83–6T–4th (North)
2017 Oregon State 1–5[lower-alpha 2]0–3(North)
Oregon State: 7–233–18
Utah State Aggies (Mountain West Conference) (2019–2020)
2019 Utah State 7–66–23rd (Mountain)L Frisco
2020 Utah State 0–3[lower-alpha 3]0–3
Utah State: 33–3322–18
Total:63–70
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

Notes
  1. Andersen left Wisconsin before the bowl game and the ranking reflects the team's ranking at the time of Andersen's departure.
  2. Andersen was the head coach for the first six games of the season. On October 9, 2017, Cory Hall was named interim head coach after the university and Andersen mutually agreed to part ways.
  3. Andersen was the head coach for the first three games of the season. Utah State and Anderson parted ways on November 7, 2020.

References
  1. "Gary Andersen". Utah Utes. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  2. Gary Andersen debuts in Madison. ESPN.com. December 21, 2012.
  3. Ennis, Mark. Gary Andersen called every Utah State player to inform them he was leaving. SBNation. December 19, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  4. "Oregon State hires Wisconsin's Gary Andersen". nbcsports.com. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  5. BRIAN HAMILTON (Dec 10, 2014) Wisconsin must look at commitment as Andersen moves to Oregon State Sports Illustrated Accessed: Dec 11, 2014
  6. Jesse Temple, Dec 11, 2014 Temple: Academic admissions an issue at Wisconsin, but Andersen should have known better Fox Sports Wisconsin, accessed Dec 11, 2014
  7. Wisconsin's admission standards pushed Gary Andersen to Oregon St. by Dennis Dodd on January 21, 2015 CBS Sports, accessed January 22, 2015
  8. Jeff Potrykus, December 11, 2014, Did Oregon State opening distract Gary Andersen in Big Ten title game? Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Accessed Dec 12, 2014
  9. "Wisconsin's Gary Andersen hired as next Oregon State Beavers head coach". Oregon Live LLC. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  10. Bonagura, Kyle (October 9, 2017). "Gary Andersen out as football coach at Oregon State". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  11. "Gary Andersen Returns to Ute Football Staff". January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  12. Andersen will return as USU's head football coach
  13. Wolken, Dan. "Utah State fired coach Gary Andersen three games into season". Retrieved November 7, 2020.
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