USU Coach Blake Anderson On Lawsuit, Assault Comments: The Truth Has Yet To Come Out

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah State head football coach Blake Anderson and the University recently had a lawsuit filed against them by a former player stemming from a comment Anderson allegedly made about sexual assault victims.

The lawsuit, filed by former Aggie linebacker Patrick Maddox, accuses Anderson and the school of blackmail and retaliation for trying to help his friend in a lawsuit against the school for mishandling a sexual assault allegation.

MORE details on the lawsuit can be found here. 

After the lawsuit was filed, Anderson posted a response to Twitter.

“I look forward to providing facts, context and clarification of the allegations against myself. I love and appreciate all of our players, past and present. Besides respecting each other like family, we work to foster good character and social responsibility. We strive to build a culture our fans, community and University can be proud of, and that respects all people,” read part of the statement.

pic.twitter.com/Gad3YaACHA

— Blake Anderson (@CHbanderson) October 29, 2022

Anderson, who apologized for the comments that spurred the problems, said they were taken out of context. New comments and context from the Aggie coach came to light during Anderson’s Coaches Show on Wednesday night with Scotty G. of KSL Sports Zone.

“There are a ton of things I’d like to say and to be truthful this goes all the way back to last December when we were going into the bowl game when this big story hit the media about things that I allegedly said,” Anderson began.”Brittney and I talked about it, we were going to let people handle this and the truth is going to come out and some point. And to be truthful, I can’t say a whole lot, I can say this, the truth really has not come out over the course of the last year.”

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ICYMI: Utah State head coach Blake Anderson made his weekly appearance on @975Hans & @ScottyGZone @KSLSportsZone | @kslsports

🎧 https://t.co/7d3pg8316U. pic.twitter.com/58kXvwU5MO

— Lloyd Cole (@LloydColezone) November 2, 2022

History Of The Comments About Assault Victims & Blake Anderson’s Initial Apology

The history of this incident goes back to last December when The Salt Lake Tribune obtained recordings of police chief Earl Morris and Anderson. The recordings were of the two men commenting on victims of sexual assault.

In the recordings, Anderson said, “it has never been more glamorized to be a victim.”

Both men later apologized for the comments. Morris resigned from his post.

“I regret the words I used, and I apologize to anyone who has bravely come forward with allegations of wrongdoing,” Anderson said. “We have to do everything we can to encourage and protect anybody who has been the victim of a wrong, or whose personal rights have been violated.”

Anderson reiterated some of that apology Wednesday night and offered more information on the situation.

“I made a statement in front of my guys in response to a question about false reporting and false accusations. ‘Coach what happens if we are falsely accused?’ And I made a statement and I apologized for the terminology that I used because I think it offended some people but it was taken out of context,” he explained. “I never said, I never would say and I never will say that it is glamourized to be a sexual assault victim. The word sexual assault never came out of my mouth. That is not what we were talking about. We were talking about the media frenzy environment that is out there if a false accusation is made.”

He continued with more information on the now infamous team meeting.

“I am quoted right after that as saying ‘if you cross the line, if you cross the line of consent, if you cross the line of what is proper and right, and I quote myself, ‘I will be the first one to come and take your (expletive) out, you are going to be and should be held accountable” he continued the explanation.

Aggies Coaches Show Cont.

On Wednesday night’s Coaches Show, Anderson also spoke about the context of the initial conversation and how he feels much of that context has not come to light.

Listen to the comments from Blake Anderson with Scotty G. here

“There’s a good side to it that, I think, is that the truth is going to ultimately come out. I would say this, the frustration for me is that for almost a year now, I have been quoted out of context. Things have been said that I just didn’t say, not in the context that they have been claimed to have been said. There’s an audio that, some time along the way, may get released for everyone to hear and really to put into context the conversation that I was having with our guys; trying my best to educate them, trying my best to teach them and trying my best to honestly protect them from themselves at times,” Anderson continued.

Anderson spoke on KSL Sports Zone about his frustration with the nearly year-long incident and how he feels that people are not seeing who he truly is as a person.

“And I would say this, the opportunity for what I did say to be put in the proper context so people understand that I am not the person that I am being portrayed to be is maybe the only thing that could be positive that is going to come out of this,” he said.

Utah State’s head coach emotionally finished his conversation during the show with the hope that people will gain a more accurate view of who he believes he is as a person.

“The only thing that really matters to me is what Christ thinks of me, but there are a lot of people that have a very twisted view of who I am and it’s not true, it’s not accurate,” he finished.

Utah State University has not commented on the lawsuit or any new developments to the situation.

Utah State Title IX Investigation

Utah State was investigated by the Department of Justice for issues with Title IX reporting, which encompasses sexual assault reporting.

The department found that fewer than 25 of over 200 reports of sexual assaults between 2013-2018 went through proper protocols.