Even though Blake Anderson's family moved from Jonesboro six months after he was born there, returning to his birthplace to begin his head coaching career at Arkansas State University felt a lot like coming home.
Anderson, 45, spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday, recalling how he and his wife bounced around from program to program for 22 years before the opportunity came to lead the Red Wolves, becoming the fifth head coach at ASU in as many seasons.
The journey started with an assistant coaching job at Eastern New Mexico State in Portales, N.M. ("It's not at the edge of the earth, but you can see the edge from there," Anderson quipped) and included offensive coordinator stints at Louisiana–Lafayette, Southern Mississippi and North Carolina before being hired at ASU.
"God knew what he was doing, he took us to all those places," Anderson said. "... Big highs, some lows along the way. But again, all of it's really led me home."
It's worked out well, Anderson said, because now is the "best time for Arkansas State football in history." He noted the program has won at least a share of three straight Sun Belt championships, has had a player selected in each of the last eight NFL drafts, is recording academic improvements and is celebrating its centennial.
And, he said, he is committed to continued advancements with intentions of building "a monster program in Jonesboro that makes everybody in Arkansas happy and proud."
"Our goal is to make every alumni, every past player proud of who we are," Anderson told the crowd, which included notable ASU alumnus Gov. Mike Beebe. "We want to be the best at what we are. Now we're not in the SEC … We know we're not in the SEC, we're not in the Big 12. We don't even need to be, we don't care to be. We want to be the best at what we are."
ASU, 4-3 so far this year, has three home games scheduled in November. Anderson said those in attendance at the luncheon at Embassy Suites in Little Rock should consider making the trip to see the Red Wolves play, noting the team's penchant for trick plays make them an exciting one to watch.
One such play — a fake punt dubbed the "Fainting Goat" in which an ASU player purposely fell to the ground against Miami — didn't work and instead ended with an interception. But it did attract considerable attention, Anderson said, drawing "over like 120 million hits on the Internet."
He said the team has attempted 21 trick plays through seven games.
"If you haven't made a trip to come watch us play, nobody else in the country is running fainting goats, nobody else in the country is running flea flickers and fake punts," he said. "There is nothing boring about a game in Jonesboro, Arkansas."
Read more about this story in Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.