I'm not bringing this up wishing he would somehow be available and willing to come back. Absent a major loss of the team again Wells is going to get at least the wins he needs to be back and with the performance coming back from 21-7 I think this team isn't going to fold..knock on wood.

Gary is #1 on some hot seat lists and to many watching the program it almost seems like his personality has changed. Some even speculate he's losing it mentally and has little control over anything delegating everything to his assistants. He has a staff with Clune and McGiven as his coordinators with Baldwin still a large part of that.

I wonder if in some sense if he didn't get lucky here in part. How many QBs like Keeton have we had. He inherited Micheal Smith, Robert Turbin, Wagner, and Gallagher. Kerrywyn had no other offers. The defense in 2011 featured no less than Bobby Wagner, Gallagher, Will Davis, Nevin Lawson, Mo Alexander, Tavaris McMillan (a stud before his shoulder injuries), Bojay Filimoeatu, and Al Lapuaho. They also had underrated guys in both McCade Brady and Robertson. Yet they were average at best.

The 2012 team had Dave Aranda running the D after losing most of those guys and it was one of the best in the country. Chuckie and Kerrwyn were at their finest and the O-line was experienced and tough. They had Mike Sanford shadowing as a defacto offensive coordinator.

I'm hesitant to take this road. I've always said if Wells were fired it would be crazy not to take Gary if the stars aligned and he was available and willing. He recruited the Vigils, Doughty, and a host of blue collar kids. His teams seemed to love playing for him. It might be in the end that his successes are functions of his coaching staffs and he's too loyal. Clune was terrible here in IMO. McGiven nothing special. Baldwin had his own issues in 2011 holding back an offense at times.

Thoughts? I have no idea to tell you the truth. I thought Gary would have good success at OSU.

aggies22 wrote:Actually, Clune recruited Zach Vigil. Clune had Zach all set to come to Weber State where Clune was the DC at the time. When Gary hired Clune here, Zach followed and the rest is history.

So what do you think about what's happening with Gary.? You were around that group quite a bit. I don't honestly have any idea. Like I said, I thought Clune had an opportunity for a hell of a defense the year he was here and they fell apart. I know the pre-season and in season injuries on the line were a huge part of that but he's given up loads of points this year to everyone at OSU.

What Gary did was completely changed the culture. He got kids to believe and to put everything into football and work as hard as they could. The team played so hard for him and believed in themselves.

Who knows if he could repeat that or not. It wasn't about x's and o's though. It was all motivational, and I don't think that was lucky. He changed a culture that many believed couldn't be changed.

gary is "losing it mentally"? some people speculate that's the case?

people speculate lots of things.

i don't buy it.

AndroidAggie wrote:gary is "losing it mentally"? some people speculate that's the case?

people speculate lots of things.

i don't buy it.

I'm not saying that at all. The speculation comes in that to some observers he just doesn't seem like he's in tune to what's happening personell wise and deflecting questions and blame to the coordinators. In any event things seem to be spiraling in a bad direction and so the questions get asked about why and what has changed. The theories going from he was mostly lucky in his situations at USU and Wisky or something has changed in his motivation or health, to him being just too loyal, or to him just having an unlucky situation in Oregon.

I have no idea.

Gary knew Utah. He doesn't know Oregon. It will be hard to replicate his success at USU in a different area without the connections he had. He should be looking for coordinators with Oregon connections instead of the usual suspects.

Seems as though things are starting to turn against him. This was GA's response to the status on one of OSU's starting receivers who did not play on Sat-

https://mobile.twitter.com/DannyJMoran/ ... 7334776838

FloridaAggie13 wrote:

hickaggie wrote:

AndroidAggie wrote:gary is "losing it mentally"? some people speculate that's the case?

people speculate lots of things.

i don't buy it.

I'm not saying that at all. The speculation comes in that to some observers he just doesn't seem like he's in tune to what's happening personell wise and deflecting questions and blame to the coordinators. In any event things seem to be spiraling in a bad direction and so the questions get asked about why and what has changed. The theories going from he was mostly lucky in his situations at USU and Wisky or something has changed in his motivation or health, to him being just too loyal, or to him just having an unlucky situation in Oregon.

I have no idea.

Luck = when preparation meets opportunity.

Some of the great players you mentioned weren't "great" when they were recruited by Guy and who knows how they would have developed under Guy. The 2011 team was just as good, if not better, than the 2012 team but hadn't learned how to win yet. GA brought the mentality change the program desperately needed. It's hard to turn around one perennial doormat, much less two; OSU also plays in a much more competitive conference than did USU when GA arrived.

For the record I agree with you but he was making good strides and his team has seemed to take a real turn for the worse this year. Whether that is on him or not, he had better find a win or 2 or he's gone. As to the the twitter quote that was just posted that doesn't sound like the Gary Andersen I remember. Probably just a bad moment.

Wow, you complain about Wells losing players, Gary literally lost a player.


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As Al would say, "The Mustard is off the hot dog"

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hickaggie wrote:

aggies22 wrote:Actually, Clune recruited Zach Vigil. Clune had Zach all set to come to Weber State where Clune was the DC at the time. When Gary hired Clune here, Zach followed and the rest is history.

So what do you think about what's happening with Gary.? You were around that group quite a bit. I don't honestly have any idea. Like I said, I thought Clune had an opportunity for a hell of a defense the year he was here and they fell apart. I know the pre-season and in-season injuries on the line were a huge part of that but he's given up loads of points this year to everyone at OSU.

My very biased and subjective opinion, the reason Gary is struggling at OSU, .. are for many reasons.

1. His Utah State blueprint for success is tied too much to Utah and competing against u and ybu to win recruiting battles
2. Ties to Utah HS football coaches. They aren't blue-chip recruits, maybe 5 or 6 if that,

As such, he has to rebuild completely at OSU, and re-create a positive atmosphere there to convince Oregon HS players to go there over the ducks.

I don't live in Utah, but I used to and the Utah culture doesn't match very well with other areas of the country.

Also another subjective opinion I have, what return missionary kids want to go to OSU and play college football when they are brainwashed to love ybu their whole lives, OR they can stay home and play at utah or in front of their families. These more mature and physically developed recruits are some of the blue collar recruits which thrived under Gary at Utah State.

Gary's worst decision was leaving Utah State to go to Wisky, with Barry Alvarez as the AD telling him he had to run Barry's offense.

I don't pretend to know everything or even a 1/3 or 1/4 of his problems, but I personally lived in Utah, many many years, and now live in the Northeast, and I swear people would rather stay home and close to their parents than go across the country to play a sport UNLESS they are a blue chip athlete going DUKE, UK, UCLA, UNC, or Kansas in Basketball, OR in football Clemson, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, USC (or the like).

On an unrelated note, within a 3 hour radius of here there are 4-5 major housing areas (2-3 Million people) with lower income people living there 30k or less, and these kids just want out, if they can make it in sports, it's like a Golden ticket to a better life for these people who have lived their entire live in Section 8 and their moms work 3 jobs and they survive on food stamps. Blue chip schools are actively assisting programs like AAU development, YMCA and NFL play 60, to develop talent in children kids from these very densely populated areas.

FloridaAggie13 wrote:

hickaggie wrote:

AndroidAggie wrote:gary is "losing it mentally"? some people speculate that's the case?

people speculate lots of things.

i don't buy it.

I'm not saying that at all. The speculation comes in that to some observers he just doesn't seem like he's in tune to what's happening personell wise and deflecting questions and blame to the coordinators. In any event things seem to be spiraling in a bad direction and so the questions get asked about why and what has changed. The theories going from he was mostly lucky in his situations at USU and Wisky or something has changed in his motivation or health, to him being just too loyal, or to him just having an unlucky situation in Oregon.

I have no idea.

Luck = when preparation meets opportunity.

Some of the great players you mentioned weren't "great" when they were recruited by Guy and who knows how they would have developed under Guy. The 2011 team was just as good, if not better, than the 2012 team but hadn't learned how to win yet. GA brought the mentality change the program desperately needed. It's hard to turn around one perennial doormat, much less two; OSU also plays in a much more competitive conference than did USU when GA arrived.

I firmly believe two separate recruiting markets require two separate approaches toward the kind of recruit you're going to go after.

I said once before that it would be a mistake to take Gary back, and I was nearly run out of town on a rail.

When Gary was here, he was a young-ish coach working his tail off to punch his ticket. All of the possibilities were open to him. If he did well, he could get a middling P5 job. If he did well there, he could get an elite P5 job. If he did well there, he could land at Michigan, USC, Ohio State, Alabama.... He literally worked himself sick. Remember when he was questionable to be on the sideline for the 2010 BYU game, because he'd been working 20 hour days, and collapsed at home? He had the fire in his belly.

Now, he's an old-ish coach. If he comes back to USU, it will be because he crashed and burned at Oregon State and was fired. There won't be a snowball's chance in hell of his getting back to a P5 head coaching job, and probably not even as a P5 defensive coordinator. If he's lucky, he'll get to put in his time at USU until he retires. There's nothing to strive for. No fire in the belly. Just an old guy, waiting for his moderately successful career to wind down. Think Stew in his last three years.

Nope. I love Gary for what he did for the program. Wouldn't want him back for anything.

LKGates wrote:I said once before that it would be a mistake to take Gary back, and I was nearly run out of town on a rail.

When Gary was here, he was a young-ish coach working his tail off to punch his ticket. All of the possibilities were open to him. If he did well, he could get a middling P5 job. If he did well there, he could get an elite P5 job. If he did well there, he could land at Michigan, USC, Ohio State, Alabama.... He literally worked himself sick. Remember when he was questionable to be on the sideline for the 2010 BYU game, because he'd been working 20 hour days, and collapsed at home? He had the fire in his belly.

Now, he's an old-ish coach. If he comes back to USU, it will be because he crashed and burned at Oregon State and was fired. There won't be a snowball's chance in hell of his getting back to a P5 head coaching job, and probably not even as a P5 defensive coordinator. If he's lucky, he'll get to put in his time at USU until he retires. There's nothing to strive for. No fire in the belly. Just an old guy, waiting for his moderately successful career to wind down. Think Stew in his last three years.

Nope. I love Gary for what he did for the program. Wouldn't want him back for anything.

You should be run out on a rail again.

You might be right but you might be wrong. What we do know is Gary took us to the top 25, as far as I’m concerned Gary will get the benefit of doubt, UNTIL PROVEN WRONG.


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Just for fun I was looking through a OSU message board to see what they were saying about GA and I found this post.

Well, after he left Utah State, Matt Wells won 9 games, then 10 games, then 6, then 3, but now is at 3 wins so far this season and looking to be rebounding.

Kind of like when Dan Hawkins left Boise State, maybe we find out the magic wasn't Andersen at Utah State. He is the first to admit he doesn't mess with that offense stuff.

USU went 4-8 twice under Andersen until 2011 when Matt Wells came over at QB coach and running game coordinator. They win 7 games with Chuckie Keaton. Then in 2012 Wells is made OC and they win 11 games with Chuckie.

Anderson left for Wisconsin and Utah State kept on winning until they finally had a massive roster turn over and had a rebuilding season. At Wisconsin, Andersen was Head Coach in name only. He was handed a massive offensive line and a future first round running back in Melvin Gordon that he ran 30 times a game. That is how he won games. Nothing at Wisconsin was "him" and if we all recall, that is why he left. He was being shadow coached by Alvarez.

So, I believe it. I believe Andersen is a con. A complete con. I can see that Matt Wells was the mojo at Utah State that won him games. I can see that Andersen was just holding down the fort on a well established program that was already loaded. Hell, I would go as far as to say it was Andersen's tinkering at QB that HELD BACK Wisconsin and kept them out of 11 win seasons.

I mean, REALLY take a look at what he did. was it really Anderpants that build Utah State? Is it coincidence they broke through when Matt Wells came over?

http://bennyshouse.freeforums.net/threa ... -ga?page=1

There you have it the Genius behind the USU turn around-Matt Wells. I guess perspective is everything

Reading through posts about him over there its kinda like deja-vu, posts about him losing the team and the fans, unavailability to make adjustments at halftime, etc

I will always hold Gary Andersen in the highest regard for what he did here and will always be grateful. I harbor no ill will towards him whatsoever for leaving to go to Wisconsin. I wish him all the best and hope he has nothing but success wherever he goes. At the same time, I think that it would be a mistake to try to bring him back if the opportunity ever arose. Many people wanted to bring back John L Smith too. I’m so glad we didn’t do that. We hired Gary instead. The next time we are hiring a head football coach, we should hire the best coach we can possibly find and a guy that is at the bottom of his league (even if it is the P12) and seemingly getting worse would not be at the top of my list. I believe we are in a much better position (conference, facilities, recent success, etc.) now than we were when we hired Gary and should have a much bigger pool from which to choose.

Like I said, I love Gary Andersen but that ship has sailed and that era is over.

Gary does have the desire to return to cache valley as the coach of the aggies to finish what he started. Certainly that could change, but he loves utah state and cache valley and still has a vision for what this program can be. Personally, i would welcome him back with open arms. He is now financially set but still has that inner fire and desire to run this program again.

This will be intersting to see play out if wells is hired away following this season or somehow we lose more than six games this year and he is released of his duties.

LKGates wrote:I said once before that it would be a mistake to take Gary back, and I was nearly run out of town on a rail.

When Gary was here, he was a young-ish coach working his tail off to punch his ticket. All of the possibilities were open to him. If he did well, he could get a middling P5 job. If he did well there, he could get an elite P5 job. If he did well there, he could land at Michigan, USC, Ohio State, Alabama.... He literally worked himself sick. Remember when he was questionable to be on the sideline for the 2010 BYU game, because he'd been working 20 hour days, and collapsed at home? He had the fire in his belly.

Now, he's an old-ish coach. If he comes back to USU, it will be because he crashed and burned at Oregon State and was fired. There won't be a snowball's chance in hell of his getting back to a P5 head coaching job, and probably not even as a P5 defensive coordinator. If he's lucky, he'll get to put in his time at USU until he retires. There's nothing to strive for. No fire in the belly. Just an old guy, waiting for his moderately successful career to wind down. Think Stew in his last three years.

Nope. I love Gary for what he did for the program. Wouldn't want him back for anything.

I respect your opinion and understand it, but don't agree with it.

You make a few assumptions and present them as facts here without much evidence. P5 coaches that crash and burn get opportunities to be coordinators or even HCs again at P5 programs. Even really bad Coaches at the G5 level get second chances. Gary Crowton was a coordinator at LSU for years after his failed tenure at BYU. Lane Kiffin was embarrassed at USC and landed as the OC at Alabama. Butch Davis from Miami to UNC. Lou Holtz from ND to South Carolina. Spurrier from Florida to South Carolina. Not exactly analogous situations, but you get the point. Bottom line is GA is a proven defensive mind and will have options at the P5 level in coordinating a defense if he wanted. After a few years, it's even possible to get back as a HC.

You also assert that GA has no fire and just wants his career to wind down. How do you know that? Are you just basing this off of age? That seems to be a major point of your whole argument, that Gary is old and tired. We really don't know that. He's certainly not tearing the world apart at Oregon State, but some guys just don't work at certain programs. I don't think you leave a top 25 program like Wisconsin for a total dumpster fire of a rebuild in Oregon State if you don't have SOME fire in the belly.

Maybe he's just not a fit in Corvallis. Gary is not a top 10 coach that can go anywhere and make them a success (Meyer, Saban, Petersen). He's the best coach we've had in a long time and has a formula that works here. He'd be worth a look if the job were available and he wanted it.

Too bad Gary is not an offensive guy. He could go be another washed up has been on Utah's staff like Dave Christensen, Norm Chow, and Dennis Erickson. I loved what GA did here, it was tremendous, but he moved on and so did we. His vision for this program means nothing because he gave up his chance to have his say a long time ago.

The saying "you can't go home again" applies here. He is a different person and the program here has changed along with the AD. He thought the grass was greener on the other side, so he took the bait, betraying players and fans alike.

His problems at OSU are numerous. He is at the bottom of the NW recruiting totem pole, Ducks, Huskies and even Leach's Cougs are preferable spots to go. Blue chippers from Utah will go elsewhere, missionaries generally want to stay in Utah. The other schools are the hammer OSU is the nail.


I said on this board when he was hired coaches go there to die, and I was ridiculed. Only 2 ever had success there in recent years, Ericsen and Riley.


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Madmartigan wrote:

LKGates wrote:I said once before that it would be a mistake to take Gary back, and I was nearly run out of town on a rail.

When Gary was here, he was a young-ish coach working his tail off to punch his ticket. All of the possibilities were open to him. If he did well, he could get a middling P5 job. If he did well there, he could get an elite P5 job. If he did well there, he could land at Michigan, USC, Ohio State, Alabama.... He literally worked himself sick. Remember when he was questionable to be on the sideline for the 2010 BYU game, because he'd been working 20 hour days, and collapsed at home? He had the fire in his belly.

Now, he's an old-ish coach. If he comes back to USU, it will be because he crashed and burned at Oregon State and was fired. There won't be a snowball's chance in hell of his getting back to a P5 head coaching job, and probably not even as a P5 defensive coordinator. If he's lucky, he'll get to put in his time at USU until he retires. There's nothing to strive for. No fire in the belly. Just an old guy, waiting for his moderately successful career to wind down. Think Stew in his last three years.

Nope. I love Gary for what he did for the program. Wouldn't want him back for anything.

I respect your opinion and understand it, but don't agree with it.

You make a few assumptions and present them as facts here without much evidence. P5 coaches that crash and burn get opportunities to be coordinators or even HCs again at P5 programs. Even really bad Coaches at the G5 level get second chances. Gary Crowton was a coordinator at LSU for years after his failed tenure at BYU. Lane Kiffin was embarrassed at USC and landed as the OC at Alabama. Butch Davis from Miami to UNC. Lou Holtz from ND to South Carolina. Spurrier from Florida to South Carolina. Not exactly analogous situations, but you get the point. Bottom line is GA is a proven defensive mind and will have options at the P5 level in coordinating a defense if he wanted. After a few years, it's even possible to get back as a HC.

You also assert that GA has no fire and just wants his career to wind down. How do you know that? Are you just basing this off of age? That seems to be a major point of your whole argument, that Gary is old and tired. We really don't know that. He's certainly not tearing the world apart at Oregon State, but some guys just don't work at certain programs. I don't think you leave a top 25 program like Wisconsin for a total dumpster fire of a rebuild in Oregon State if you don't have SOME fire in the belly.

Maybe he's just not a fit in Corvallis. Gary is not a top 10 coach that can go anywhere and make them a success (Meyer, Saban, Petersen). He's the best coach we've had in a long time and has a formula that works here. He'd be worth a look if the job were available and he wanted it.

I largely agree (minor quibble on Butch Davis who was great in rebuilding Miami but a disaster in the NFL).

My feelings on GA returning would largely be based on why our HC job is open. If Wells crashes and burns this year and we end up say 4-8 and he is fired, I don't think we are in a position where in demand up and comers will be kicking down our door. In that event, if GA were available, we could do a lot worse than an experienced coach who knows how to win here, who would immediately command the respect of the locker room and would probably be rejuvenated. Guys definitely work at certain programs and GA would probably work here better than Oregon State or Wisconsin.

Now if Wells has a great year and we go 9-4 with a bowl win and he leaves for another job, then this place looks a lot more attractive and we probably have some good options other than GA.

I don’t think we will ever have to worry about this issue. I don’t see GA coming back and I don’t see it lining up where it will be possible.

I could see the stress of not being in a P5 conference and the pressure to win (albeit more reasonable expectations of the OSU faithful) be a very rejuvenating thing for a guy like GA and the situation he's currently in. It's a familiar spot for him and he would be instantly beloved by almost everyone. If he does end up getting fired or a buy out type resignation and he takes a job as a coordinator somewhere else he is then immediately available to come back as a head coach. I don't know the man personally on any level so I don't know if he would want to take another head coaching job right after a firing/resignation or not but I would imagine that after all he's going through he would want to take a break.

I think MW will live to coach another year based on what I've seen. I think we can get at least 3 more wins. Next year the team could be better so who knows if he also keeps us going forward and Matt is our guy.

FloridaAggie13 wrote:This topic is tiresome. Let's start a thread "Nick Saban Thoughts"?

What would have to happen for Nick Saban to come to USU? Discuss.

Have to pay him significantly more than Alabama is paying him.

Who is going to donate their lottery winnings to pay his salary?

Gary Andersen thoughts?

A badger, a barry, and a beaver....


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