| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Analyst |
| Team | BYU |
| Conference | Big 12 Conference |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1964-02-19)February 19, 1964 (age 61) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1983–1984 | Ricks |
| 1985–1986 | Utah |
| Position(s) | Center |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1989–1991 | Ricks (OL) |
| 1992–1993 | Idaho State (DL) |
| 1994 | Park City HS (UT) |
| 1995–1996 | Northern Arizona (AHC/DL/ST) |
| 1997–2000 | Utah (DT/SDE) |
| 2001–2002 | Utah (AHC/DT/ST) |
| 2003 | Southern Utah |
| 2004 | Utah (DL) |
| 2005–2008 | Utah (AHC/DC/DL) |
| 2009–2012 | Utah State |
| 2013–2014 | Wisconsin |
| 2015–2017 | Oregon State |
| 2018 | Utah (AHC / defensive assistant) |
| 2019–2020 | Utah State |
| 2021–2022 | Weber State (analyst) |
| 2024–present | BYU (analyst) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 63–70 |
| Bowls | 1–3 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1WAC (2012) 1Big Ten West Division (2014) | |
| Awards | |
Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964)[1] is anAmerican football coach who was most recently head football coach atUtah State University. Andersen has also been the head football coach ofSouthern Utah (2003),Wisconsin (2013–2014), andOregon State (2015–2017). He served three years as thedefensive coordinator atUtah, where he coached the2008 Utes team that went undefeated and beatAlabama in theSugar Bowl to finish the season ranked second in the nation. He is currently an analyst atBYU.
Andersen began his football career playing atCottonwood High School, where he lettered in football for two years. After high school, he playedcenter atRicks College (nowBrigham Young University–Idaho) inRexburg, Idaho, for two seasons. As a freshman he was second team All-Conference and Ricks finished the season ranked fourth in the nation. In 1984, he was a First Team All-America selection and team captain as he helped Ricks to a number two ranking in the nation. He transferred to theUniversity of Utah inSalt Lake City, where he lettered two years for theUtes and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in political science.
Andersen returned to his alma mater in 1997, when he was hired byRon McBride, his former offensive line coach with the Utes, to be defensive tackles coach. After McBride was fired as Utah's head coach at the end of the 2002 season, he left to be head coach atSouthern Utah University. Andersen only spent one season with the Thunderbirds and returned to Utah in 2004 when he was hired byUrban Meyer as the defensive line coach. He was the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2005 to 2008 and was a 2008 finalist for theBroyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.
Andersen was the head coach atUtah State for four seasons, beginning with 4–8 records in2009 and2010. His first winning season at Utah State came in2011 (7–6) and his fourth and final year was the most successful, as the2012 Aggies won 11 games and lost only two (the two losses were by 2 and 3 points againstWisconsin andBYU, respectively), and finished #16 in the final AP poll.
Andersen was introduced as the new head coach atWisconsin (which beat Utah State in an early season game in 2012) on December 21, 2012 to replaceBret Bielema, who left forArkansas.[2] After Andersen decided to leave Utah State for the Wisconsin job, he called every one of his players at Utah State individually to inform them personally of his decision.[3] In 2013, Andersen's first win as aWisconsin coach was a 45–0 win againstMassachusetts. Andersen's final 2013 record was 9–4.
The 2014 regular season ended with the Badgers taking 1st place in the West division with a 10–2 record. Wisconsin played Ohio State for the conference title in the2014 Big Ten Championship Game where the Badgers lost to Ohio State 59–0. Andersen left Wisconsin four days later, having taken the vacant head coaching position atOregon State.[4] Andersen cited family as his rationale for taking the Oregon State position while it was reported by some media outlets, such asFox Sports andSports Illustrated, that Andersen was frustrated with Wisconsin's high admissions standards for athletes.[5][6] Those reports turned out to be accurate, and were confirmed by Andersen in January 2015.[7]
Andersen had to pay a $3 million buyout for departing within the first two years of his contract, which was set through January 2019.[8]
Andersen was announced as the new head coach ofOregon State on December 10, 2014. Andersen replaced the previous coach at Oregon State,Mike Riley, who left for the same position atNebraska.[9] On October 9, 2017, Andersen and Oregon State football parted ways with him forgoing $12 million left on his contract.[10]
On January 2, 2018 it was announced that Andersen would be returning to Utah for a 3rd time as an associate head coach and defensive assistant.[11]
On December 9, 2018, Andersen was named head coach at Utah State for the second time, replacing the man who replaced him six years earlier inMatt Wells, who left for theTexas Tech head coaching job.[12] Utah State fired Andersen on November 7, 2020, after the team started 0–3.[13]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Utah Thunderbirds(NCAA Division I-AA independent)(2003) | |||||||||
| 2003 | Southern Utah | 4–7 | |||||||
| Southern Utah: | 4–7 | ||||||||
| Utah State Aggies(Western Athletic Conference)(2009–2012) | |||||||||
| 2009 | Utah State | 4–8 | 3–5 | T–5th | |||||
| 2010 | Utah State | 4–8 | 2–6 | 7th | |||||
| 2011 | Utah State | 7–6 | 5–2 | T–2nd | LFamous Idaho Potato | ||||
| 2012 | Utah State | 11–2 | 6–0 | 1st | WFamous Idaho Potato | 17 | 16 | ||
| Wisconsin Badgers(Big Ten Conference)(2013–2014) | |||||||||
| 2013 | Wisconsin | 9–4 | 6–2 | 2nd(Leaders) | LCapital One | 21 | 22 | ||
| 2014 | Wisconsin | 10–3 | 7–1 | 1st(West) | Outback[a] | 17[a] | 17[a] | ||
| Wisconsin: | 19–7 | 13–3 | |||||||
| Oregon State Beavers(Pac-12 Conference)(2015–2017) | |||||||||
| 2015 | Oregon State | 2–10 | 0–9 | 6th(North) | |||||
| 2016 | Oregon State | 4–8 | 3–6 | T–4th(North) | |||||
| 2017 | Oregon State | 1–5[b] | 0–3 | (North) | |||||
| Oregon State: | 7–23 | 3–18 | |||||||
| Utah State Aggies(Mountain West Conference)(2019–2020) | |||||||||
| 2019 | Utah State | 7–6 | 6–2 | 3rd(Mountain) | LFrisco | ||||
| 2020 | Utah State | 0–3[c] | 0–3 | ||||||
| Utah State: | 33–33 | 22–18 | |||||||
| Total: | 63–70 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||