USU conducted “sham investigation” to avoid contract payout

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A representative for Blake Anderson released three pages of the former Utah State University football head coach’s 70-page statement to school officials.

Attorney Tom Mars made the excerpts public on Friday, 17 days after the school announced its intention to terminate his employment, four days after the 70-page response was submitted to the university and one day after USU officially announced that Anderson was no longer employed by the university.

The document alleges that the school conducted a “sham investigation” to avoid paying the multimillion-dollar severance package for Anderson’s contract.

In the document, Anderson’s legal team argued that USU had fabricated grounds for termination without notice in order to avoid releasing the money.

“Like any university in the United States whose head coach has a contract that complies with industry standards, Utah State University (‘USU’) may terminate Coach Blake Anderson (‘Coach Anderson’) at any time for any reason or no reason,” the document’s introduction states. “However, if USU chooses to terminate his employment ‘for convenience’ rather than ‘for cause,’ USU must fulfill its promise to pay Coach Anderson an agreed-upon amount of money set forth in his employment contract, commonly referred to as his ‘severance payment.'”

The response said the university falsely implied that Anderson and other employees fired in early July “were guilty of covering up ‘sexual misconduct’ in violation of Title IX in a highly inflammatory press release that served no purpose other than to portray these loyal employees in a negative light.”

According to the summary response Mars posted on his X-Account, the reason for USU’s termination was an incident that occurred in spring 2023. However, details of that incident were not included in the first three pages made available to the public.

Mars promised that a “full response will follow” that will include the university’s letter of termination to Anderson, a summary of the investigation underlying his dismissal, court documents – presumably from the 2023 case – and witness testimony.

Mars did not provide a timeline for the release of the additional information.

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Excerpts from Anderson’s response, shared by Mars, are below.