Quick Facts
Biography
Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964) is the head football coach at Oregon State University. He was the head football coach at Wisconsin (2013–2014), Utah State (2009–2012), and Southern Utah University (2003). Andersen also served three years as the defensive coordinator at the University of Utah, where he coached the 2008 team that went undefeated and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish #2 in the nation. He left the Badgers to coach for Oregon State in December 2014.
College
Andersen began his football career playing center at Ricks College (now Brigham Young University–Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, where he received first-team junior college All-America honors in 1984. He 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.
Coaching career
Utah
Andersen served as the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the University of Utah in 2005–2008. He was a 2008 finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college football assistant coach.
Utah State
Andersen was the head coach at Utah State for four seasons, beginning with 4–8 records in 2009 and 2010. His first winning season at Utah State came in 2011 (7–6) and his fourth and final year was the most successful, as the 2012 Aggies won 11 games and lost only two (the two losses were by 2 and 3 points against Wisconsin and BYU, respectively).
Wisconsin
Andersen was introduced as the new head coach at Wisconsin (which beat Utah State in an early season game in 2012) on December 21, 2012 to replace Bret Bielema, who left for Arkansas. 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. In 2013, Andersen's first win as a Wisconsin coach was a 45–0 win against Massachusetts. 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 the 2014 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 at Oregon State. 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 Andersen was frustrated with the University's high academic standards for athletes. Those reports turned out to be accurate, and were confirmed by Andersen in January 2015.
Andersen had to pay a $3 million buyout for departing within the first two years of his contract, which was set through January 2019.
Oregon State
Andersen was announced as the new head coach of Oregon State on December 10, 2014. Andersen replaced the winningest coach in Oregon State history, Mike Riley, who left for the same position at Nebraska.
Head coaching record
| 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 | L Famous Idaho Potato | ||||
| 2012 | Utah State | 11–2 | 6–0 | 1st | W Famous Idaho Potato | 17 | 16 | ||
| Utah State: | 26–24 | 16–13 | |||||||
| Wisconsin Badgers (Big Ten Conference) (2013–2014) | |||||||||
| 2013 | Wisconsin | 9–4 | 6–2 | 2nd (Leaders) | L Capital One | 21 | 22 | ||
| 2014 | Wisconsin | 10–3 | 7–1 | 1st (West) | Outback‡ | 17‡ | 17‡ | ||
| Wisconsin: | 19–7 | 13–3 | ‡ Did not coach bowl game | ||||||
| Oregon State Beavers (Pac-12 Conference) (2015–present) | |||||||||
| 2015 | Oregon State | 2–10 | 0–9 | 6th (North) | |||||
| 2016 | Oregon State | 4–8 | 3–6 | T–4th (North) | |||||
| Oregon State: | 6–18 | 3–15 | |||||||
| Total: | 55–56 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. | |||||||||
‡Andersen left for Oregon State before the bowl game and the ranking reflects the team's ranking at the time of Andersen's departure.
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under Andersen who became NCAA Division I head coaches:
- Brent Brennan: San Jose State (2017–present)
- Kalani Sitake: BYU (2016–present)
- Mike Sanford: Indiana State (2013–2016)
- Matt Wells: Utah State (2013–present)