Salt Lake City native Gary Andersen isn’t done with coaching. Instead, he’s joining an old coaching friend at one of the most successful programs currently at the FCS level.
Weber State head coach Jay Hill announced Friday that Andersen will join the Wildcats as a volunteer staff member, serving as an adviser while assisting the defensive coaching staff.
“Gary is one of the best coaches in the country and we are lucky to have him with us,” Hill said in a press release. “His experience and expertise in helping to train and prepare our coaching staff will really help us get better.”
Andersen is no stranger to football in the state of Utah. He has 30 years of coaching experience — including stints as head coach with Southern Utah (2003), Utah State (2009-12), Wisconsin (2013-14), Oregon State (2015-17) and then again at Utah State (2019-20) — and was a longtime assistant at Utah under coaches Ron McBride, Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham.
Andersen coached Hill at Utah, and the two coached together at the university as well.
In addition, Andersen coached Park City High for one season and was on coaching staffs at two other Big Sky schools, Idaho State and Northern Arizona.
He was most recently in his second stint as head coach at Utah State before being fired in 2020. Andersen went 33-33 as USU’s coach, including 7-9 in his most recent stint, and has a 63-70 record overall as a college head coach.
He joins Hill’s program at the height of its success. Hill has led Weber State to a 52-30 record over seven seasons, and the Wildcats have played in the FCS playoffs five straight years. In 2019, Weber State reached the FCS semifinals.