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Utah State Reportedly Hires Mike Sanford As Offensive Coordinator
The former Western Kentucky head coach is back in the Mountain West.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
Sanford returns to the Mountain West.
Utah State has reportedly found its offensive coordinator in former Western Kentucky head coach Mike Sanford, according to ESPN and other outlets. This hire by Gary Andersen would mean he has his top two coaches on staff; the defensive coordinator position was filled by Utah linebackers coach Justin Ena on Thursday.
For Sanford, this is a return home of sorts as he played quarterback and also coached at Boise State. As a coach with the Broncos, he was the offensive coordinator for just one year in 2014 before taking the same job at Notre Dame for two seasons.
That 2014 year with Sanford at Boise State he helped lead the Broncos to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Arizona and a 12-2 record.
His time at Western Kentucky did not go all as he was fired after two years with a 9-16 record. He also previously coached at Stanford and was a grad assistant at UNLV during his 14 year run as a college coach.
He has coached a few good quarterbacks and helped develop others. He coached then-freshman Brett Rypien learn the ropes on the fly in 2014 where he came in for the injured Ryan Finley and handled the quarterback situation just fine.
At Notre Dame, he helped develop DeShone Kizer who was not a heralded prospect and turned him into a second-round NFL Draft pick in 2017. He knows a thing or two about producing quarterback talent.
He also is a very good recruiter. Sanford helped land the best class in the Mountain West in his one year at Boise State, back-to-back top 15 classes at Notre Dame and also top 20 consecutive classes at Stanford.
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