Utah State Hires Mike Sanford Jr. As Offensive Coordinator
Dec 31, 2018, 12:33 PM | Updated: 3:21 pm
Head coach Mike Sanford Jr. of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers watches a replay that reversed a Florida International Golden Panthers out-of-bounds to a touchdown during fourth quarter action on November 24, 2017 at Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
LOGAN, Utah – Utah State announced that they will hire Mike Sanford Jr. as offensive coordinator for the Aggies. He will run the offense for recently hired head coach Gary Andersen in Logan.
He will also serve as the quarterbacks coach. Sanford is considered to be one of college football’s brightest offensive minds.
Sanford was fired as Western Kentucky head coach on November 25 after a 9-16 record in two seasons at the helm for the Hilltoppers. Before that, he was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame for two seasons.
He played quarterback at Boise State from 2000-04. Sanford started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for two seasons at UNLV before becoming an offensive assistant at Stanford for two season.
He moved to Yale for one season to coach the running backs and then went to Western Kentucky in 2010 to coach the quarterbacks. From 2011-13, Sanford was the running back and quarterback coach.
In 2014, he was the offensive coordinator for his alma mater Boise State for one season before going to South Bend.
USU assistant coach Mike Sanford as Utah State University defeats Toledo 41-15 as they play football in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012,in Boise, Idaho. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)
Andersen’s connection to Sanford is through his father, Mike Sanford Sr. They coached together from 2003-04 when he was the offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Utah, the same season that Utah won the Fiesta Bowl. Sanford Sr. also was the associate head coach for one season with Andersen at Utah State in 2012. He left in 2013 to be the head coach of Indiana State.
