New Utah State Aggies head football coach Blake Anderson never directly addressed the current controversy facing the program during his introductory press conference on Monday at Maverik Stadium in Logan, but he did speak about the issues of faith and diversity, saying they were going to be core values as he takes charge of the team.
That came just a few days after it was first reported by Stadium’s Brett McMurphy that Aggies players opted out of playing their 2020 season finale because university president Noelle Cockett allegedly voiced concerns about former interim coach Frank Maile’s religious and cultural background.
“I’m a Christian before I’m anything else,” he said. “I love the Lord and I feel like God put me in coaching. ... We’re going to talk about faith. We’re going to be about faith, and the guys that want to be a part of that environment are the guys that are going to say ‘yes’ to us in recruiting because they want to be around that environment every day.”
Anderson later said during his roughly 25-minute press conference that “maybe the biggest thing and maybe more important this day and age than ever before, it’s going to be one of the most diverse staffs in the country. It is going to be diverse in every way — cultural, racial — just every background possible I want to have represented on our staff, just like is represented in our locker room.”
Anderson has announced some of his new coaching staff, with more hires to come: director of player personnel Dave Roberson, Aggies legend Chuckie Keeton (who will coach either the running backs or tight ends), wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Kyle Cefalo, special teams coordinator Nick Paremski and Ethan Morriss (role to be determined).
Anderson said his offensive and defensive coordinators and head strength coach will be minorities. The Orlando Sentinel has reported that UCF’s Anthony Tucker will be the offensive coordinator.
Of the 2020 coaching staff, 35% were minorities. Anderson’s hires so far appear to be increasing that percentage.
“I want our kids in the locker room to know I’m not just talking about equality, not just talking about inclusion, not just talking about cultural equality and bringing everybody to the same page, diversity,” Anderson said.
“I want them to see it, and that means I have to step up and do it. Every piece of our staff is being put together that way, and that just excites me that we can do that here and they’ve given me the opportunity to bring those guys here.”
Noting that some staff will be retained from this year, Anderson said Utah State is “kind of locked into where we are in terms of the foundation of the recruiting area, and so part of putting together the staff will be to strategically attack those areas.”
Specifically, Anderson pointed to the West Coast, the state of Utah and “cultural ties as well, Polynesian, Mormon ties.”
Anderson said his first meeting with players went well in his estimation.
“I think they could tell that I was very sincere about wanting to listen to any issues that they felt like they’ve had,” he said. “Obviously we’ve all read the reports here recently, just some of the issues that maybe they have felt like weren’t listened to.
“I can’t affect the past. I can only affect the future, and I made it very clear my plan about what I want to do with the staff, what I want our building to be like and how I’m going to approach working every day. ... I think we’re on as good of a first step as we could be considering the circumstances, but we’re not going to let this define us.”