Blake Anderson’s time away from coaching college football appears to be drawing to a close.
According to a report by Football Scoop’s John Brice Friday morning, Anderson has been tabbed as the new offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi.
Anderson nor Southern Miss have officially announced the move, though Anderson did post praises to God on social media.
Assuming the hire is finalized, it will be a homecoming of sorts for the former Utah State head coach.
Anderson previously worked at Southern Miss from 2008 through 2011, working as both a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.
His success at Southern Miss led him North Carolina and then Arkansas State, where he became a head coach for the first time in his career.
After seven years at Arkansas State, Anderson then took the job at Utah State, and he led the Aggies to the Mountain West Conference championship in 2021.
This time around at Southern Miss, Anderson will work for newly hired head coach Charles Huff. Huff notably led Marshall to a 10-3 record and the Sun Belt title this season, but walked away from Marshall after the title win.
“There was a process put in place by the administration, and they went through that process thoroughly,” Huff told Yahoo Sports. “At the end of it, they felt going in another direction was the right decision. That decision was probably made before we won the championship, if that makes sense. It was a mutual decision. It wasn’t a knock down, drag out.
“... It wasn’t a, OK, you’re looking at championship to worst team in the conference,” Huff said. “It was, hey, you’re looking at a situation where holistically you feel you’re in a better situation, people, resources, opportunity, community buy-in, everything involved.”
Anderson will be tasked with turning around a Golden Eagles offense that ranked No. 131 in the country in total offense in 2024.
By way of comparison, the worst an Anderson offense ranked during his USU tenure was No. 95 in 2022. In 2021 and 2023, though, the Aggies’ offense rated in the top 25 nationally.
And this past season, with Anderson’s protege Kyle Cefalo working as USU’s offensive coordinator, the Aggies finished with the No. 7 total offense in all of college football.
Anderson was fired for cause by Utah State in July, for alleged mishandling and misreporting of a Title IX incident that involved a former USU football player.
Anderson has since sued the university for $15 million in damages, saying the university fired him for convenience rather than cause. He alleged in his lawsuit that he was unable to find work coaching college football in the aftermath of his termination by Utah State, claiming that prospective employers have been “concerned about the optics,” due to the public nature of his firing.