Utah State Football: Blake Anderson Is MWwire’s 2021 Head Coach of the Year
Blake Anderson’s first year with the Aggies turned into a runaway success and made him the clear pick among our staff’s as the Mountain West’s top coach.
Contact/Follow @MWCwire
A remarkable story.
Mountain West Wire’s 2021 postseason honors:
All-Conference Teams | Offensive Player of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | Special Teams Player of the Year | Freshman of the Year | Newcomer of the Year | Coach of the Year | Coordinator of the Year
The Utah State Aggies have put together an incredible run to the Mountain West football championship, overcoming long preseason odds and enduring some wild situations with Blake Anderson’s steady hand at the wheel. That made him our staff’s overwhelming choice as the conference’s top head coach in 2021.
Anderson arrived in Logan from Arkansas State shortly after the program had hid a low point, suffering through a 2020 season in which predecessor Gary Andersen was fired before the Aggies slumped to a 1-5 finish. In short time, he recruited a number of high-impact transfer athletes and quality assistant coaches, then set about climbing the standings in defiance of fifth-place projections. From a last-minute victory on the road at Washington State to a messy escape against Colorado State, the Aggies won nine games to clinch the program’s second Mountain division title, its first since 2013.
He also proved himself a stand-up person as well as a top-flight tactician and leader throughout the season, giving the Aggies a head coach they could root for on all fronts. While there’s still plenty of work left to be done in the program, the speed at which Anderson has started the rebuild should give fans plenty of hope that, if not this year, there’s plenty of potential for Utah State to go all the way in the near future.
Gatorade Shower for Blake Anderson after @USUFootball clinched their spot in the @MountainWest Champ game with a dominant win against New Mexico 🙌 pic.twitter.com/3PpmwsfWol
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 26, 2021
Also received votes: Brady Hoke, San Diego State
