Newly minted head coach Charles Huff is beginning to fill his staff out in Hattiesburg, with former Golden Eagle assistant Blake Anderson returning to Southern Miss as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Anderson previously worked under Larry Fedora from 2008 to 2011 before moving on to head coaching stops at Arkansas State and Utah State. In a combined 10 years as the leader of both programs, he compiled a 74-54 record with nine bowl games and a conference title.
As the Utah State boss in 2021, Anderson led the Aggies to one of the most remarkable turnarounds in college football history. Utah State won 11 games that season, complete with a Mountain West conference championship and bowl victory, after winning just a single game the previous year. It was the first team in FBS history to achieve such an improvement.
Anderson tweeted the following the day the hiring was first reported last week:
HIS plan
HIS timing
HIS glory ☝️
…He is ALWAYS faithful, He has NEVER left us, and we are so so humbled & grateful.
— Blake Anderson (@CHbanderson) December 13, 2024
The Texas native’s previous stretch at Southern Miss was a shimmering one, as the Golden Eagles set school records for total offense in each of his last two years as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2010-2011. Anderson followed Larry Fedora to North Carolina in the same position, before taking the head job at Arkansas State in 2014.
But Anderson’s 30-year coaching career has not been without controversy. The former Utah State headman was terminated from his position in July after university officials said he violated Title IX reporting procedures concerning an athlete’s assault case in 2023. Anderson and his counsel responded by filing a $15 million lawsuit against the school, citing wrongful termination and fraudulent accusations.
The lawsuit, filed in November, aims to recover lost wages from the remaining four years of Anderson’s contract, and claims that Utah State athletics director Diana Sabua “engaged in a public smear campaign against Anderson, in which she knowingly or recklessly makes false or misleading statements.”
A statement from Anderson’s legal counsel released following the termination announcement reads:
“[Utah State administration] including … Athletic Director Diane Sabau have unfortunately chosen to level what is essentially a public smear campaign not only against Coach Anderson and others, but also against USU itself. The public arena is typically not the preferred place for these types of disputes to be aired, but given the amount of misinformation that has been publicly stated and released by USU, and more particularly Ms. Sabau, Coach Anderson herein states publicly and with certainty that he completely denies having engaged in any wrongdoing, and looks forward to the truth and details underlying that truth being revealed through the appropriate process — in a court of law before a selected jury of his peers.”
Anderson is the first coordinator to join Huff’s staff at Southern Miss, with former Temple assistant Dominique Bowman joining as the defensive backs coach and former Marshall assistant Aaron Dobson hired as the wide receivers coach. The full staff is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
