Four days after resigning from Arkansas State University, Blake Anderson officially was introduced as the next head football coach of Utah State during a news conference Monday morning.
Anderson joins the Aggies on a reported five-year contract that will pay him $1 million in his first season, and climbing to $1.1 million in 2025 -- a bump up from the $825,000 he made with Arkansas State University in 2020.
Before diving into his future Monday, Anderson looked back.
"Seven years in Jonesboro," Anderson said of his tenure from 2013-20. "It has been a wonderful ride.
"I was an offensive coordinator with no pedigree. My dad wasn't a coach. I didn't win a Heisman Trophy. I wasn't a great player. I'm just a guy that played ball, that loved to play ball, that was fortunate enough to work his way up the ranks.
"I scored some points at Southern Miss and at Carolina. But Terry Mohajir, Chuck Welch, and at the time, Dr. Tim Hudson, saw something in me seven years ago and gave me an opportunity to be the head coach at Arkansas State, when a ton of people would have loved to have had the job."
Anderson, 51, resigned Thursday. He amassed a record of 51-37 with the Red Wolves, and led ASU to back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles in 2015 and 2016. In his final season, the Red Wolves stumbled to a 4-7 finish.
In recounting his time at Arkansas State, Anderson focused on the success ASU achieved under his watch. He recalled the program's six consecutive bowl game appearances prior to 2020, and the Sun Belt championship victories he helped deliver.
His tenure in Jonesboro was marked as much by personal tragedy as winning. He lost his wife Wendy to breast cancer in August 2019, and his father to emphysema earlier this year.
On Monday, he thanked everyone in Jonesboro who supported him on and off the field.
"To the fans, to the community, to the church, Central Baptist folks, to the staff and the players -- especially the staff and the players -- and the whole state of Arkansas, the last three years have been the hardest of my life," Anderson said. "Losing my wife to cancer. Losing my father to lung disease. And then what we went through this year in terms of adversity, I can tell you there is no way that I made it through the last three years without that group of people supporting me and helping me through that time.
"My family, my kids, the staff and all the folks were just unbelievable. So I say thank you in as big a way as I possibly can to all the folks that helped us get to this point."
Making the move out west to join Anderson's coaching staff are some familiar faces in Jonesboro. Anderson announced Monday that Dave Roberson, his director of player personnel since he arrived at ASU in 2013, will hold the same position at Utah State. Assistants Kyle Cefalo (wide receivers and passing game coordinator), Nick Paremski (special teams, interim defensive coordinator) and Ethan Morris (defensive assistant) also will jump from ASU to Utah State.
They inherit a program in Logan, Utah, that finished 1-5 and second from the bottom of the Mountain West Conference this fall.
Anderson found similarities between the program he took over in 2013 and the job he has ahead of him at Utah State. The Red Wolves won plenty before Anderson, but he brought stability to a role that previously had been a coaching carousel. His challenge with Utah State, which has won more than six games twice since 2015, appears more daunting.
"We had a seven-year run [at ASU], and we took over a mess," Anderson said. "I was the fifth head coach in five years, so adversity came with Day One. I know we'll be dealing with some here. I'm not afraid of it by any means. But what we were able to do was compete and rebuild at the same time."
Anderson lamented about the way his time at ASU ended with the only losing season the Red Wolves suffered in his seven years. He also offered a nod to his replacement at ASU, Butch Jones.
"I can promise you we were much better than a 4-7 program [this year]," Anderson said. "Now with Butch Jones at the helm, they'll build where we left off and they'll continue to raise that program and do great. I'll be a fan of theirs forever."