Gary Lee Andersen was born on February 19,1964 and is an American football coach who was most recently head football coach at Utah State University.
15 Facts About Gary Andersen
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Gary Andersen served three years as the defensive coordinator at Utah, where he coached the 2008 Utes team that went undefeated and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish the season ranked second in the nation.
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Gary Andersen began his football career playing at Cottonwood High School, where he lettered in football for two years.
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Gary Andersen transferred to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he lettered two years for the Utes and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in political science.
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Gary Andersen returned to his alma mater in 1997, when he was hired by Ron McBride, his former offensive line coach with the Utes, to be defensive tackles coach.
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Gary Andersen only spent one season with the Thunderbirds and returned to Utah in 2004 when he was hired by Urban Meyer as the defensive line coach.
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Gary Andersen was the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2005 to 2008 and was a 2008 finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.
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Gary Andersen was introduced as the new head coach at Wisconsin on December 21,2012 to replace Bret Bielema, who left for Arkansas.
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Gary Andersen left Wisconsin four days later, having taken the vacant head coaching position at Oregon State.
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Gary Andersen cited family as his rationale for taking the Oregon State position while it was reported by some media outlets, such as Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, that Gary Andersen was frustrated with Wisconsin's high admissions standards for athletes.
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Gary Andersen had to pay a $3 million buyout for departing within the first two years of his contract, which was set through January 2019.
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Gary Andersen was announced as the new head coach of Oregon State on December 10,2014.
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Gary Andersen replaced the previous coach at Oregon State, Mike Riley, who left for the same position at Nebraska.
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On January 2,2018 it was announced that Gary Andersen would be returning to Utah for a 3rd time as an associate head coach and defensive assistant.
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On December 9,2018, Gary Andersen was named head coach at Utah State for the second time, replacing the man who replaced him six years earlier in Matt Wells, who left for the Texas Tech head coaching job.