One of the enduring lessons of the 2018-19 coaching cycle is that you can always go home again. After Mack Brown returned to North Carolina, Gary Andersen is going back to Utah State.
The Aggies announced their former head coach as their current head coach on Sunday evening. The coach who proceeded Matt Wells will also be the coach who succeeds Matt Wells.
“Stacey and I are thrilled to be back at Utah State University,” Andersen said in a statement. “This is a special place and we are excited to meet these young men and play a part in seeing them succeed off and on the field academically, socially and athletically. We are grateful to reconnect with many great friends and supporters in Logan and want to thank (AD) John Hartwell and President (Noelle) Cockett for the opportunity. Go Aggies!”
A Salt Lake City native and a Utah graduate, Andersen took over at Utah State in 2009. At the time one of the most moribund programs in college football, Andersen took the Aggies to a 7-6 record and a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl appearance in his third season, then a school-best 11-2 mark with a Mountain West championship, a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl win and an AP No. 16 finish in 2012.
That success led him to Wisconsin, where he went 20-7 in two seasons but was not a culture fit, and then to Oregon State, where he left the school with a 7-23 record in two and a half seasons.
He spent 2018 down the road as Kyle Whittingham‘s assistant head coach, and will now make the 80-mile drive north back to Logan.
“We welcome Gary and Stacey and their family back to the Utah State family,” said Hartwell. “His care-factor for his players, coupled with his recruiting philosophy and plan to win, are keys to the continued success of Aggie football. His knowledge of the state of Utah and our program are unparalleled and we feel those attributes will greatly aid in the continued growth and success of Aggie football.”
Andersen takes over a program in much better shape than he first found it. Though Wells has taken the bulk of the staff with him to Texas Tech, he inherits a team coming off a 10-2 season that won a share of the Mountain West’s Mountain Division championship.