What the new offensive and defensive coordinators mean for USU football

Photo on left (via Cache Valley Media Group) — Anderson on Merlin Olsen Field during Utah State's game against Weber State on Sept. 10, 2022. Photo on right (courtesy of Utah State media relations) — New USU defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen

LOGAN — The 2022 Utah State football team was able to boast the return of essentially every member of its coaching staff from the 2021 Mountain West championship-winning team. A remarkable achievement as great mid-major teams having their coaches poached at season’s end is as consistent as death and taxes.

The transition between 2022 and 2023 hasn’t been as kind.

Utah State lost both its defensive coordinator, Ephraim Banda, and its offensive coordinator, Anthony Tucker, during the course of the offseason. Despite these changes, though, the offense and defense won’t be too dissimilar in style to last year, particularly the offense which will be headed up by head coach Blake Anderson and co-offensive coordinator Kyle Cefalo. Anderson will also be the quarterbacks coach.

Anderson is no stranger to running the offense. It’s something he did for years as an OC with North Carolina (2012-13), Southern Mississippi (2010-11), Louisiana-Lafayette (2007), Middle Tennessee (2002-04) and Trinity Valley (1998). And with the struggles the Aggies had on offense last year, particularly with turnovers, Anderson felt he needed to step in.

“We turned the ball over too much. That’s the one thing, you go back and look at my track record as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in this system, we’ve protected the football and it gives us a chance to win,” Anderson said. “I felt like I could hire somebody and tell them what I wanted to do or I could just step in and do it which I’ve done in the past.”

Blake Anderson looks on during Utah State’s game against UNLV on Sept. 24, 2022

As Anderson said, running the offense while also being the head coach isn’t unprecedented for him. It’s something he did at Arkansas State, only stepping away when his late wife began her battle with cancer.

“Probably would have never stepped away from calling plays and being a quarterback coach if my wife hadn’t gotten sick years ago. That was really the only reason I stepped away. I enjoyed it,” Anderson said. “We had a good system in place. But I had to make a choice between trying to help her battle cancer and being in that room every day. I’m in a place now in my life where I can. And I feel like I can add something. I want the pressure on me. I don’t want it on somebody else.”

Anderson said it was “hectic” getting back into the role of OC and being in the quarterback room more, but also said that he loved it and that “it was a lot of fun to get back in there.” The balance of being the OC, quarterbacks coach and head coach is something Anderson will have to learn to balance once again.

“You’ve got to compartmentalize your life a little bit,” Anderson said. “When am I going to spend time being the OC? When am I going to spend time being the quarterback coach? When am I going to spend time hiring staff? It’s been a lot. But I don’t want to panic and rush. Want to make sure we make the right additions to the staff and we’ll do that when the time comes.”

Given the system under Tucker was already heavily influenced by Anderson, changes to the offense have been minimal.

“We didn’t wholesale change the entire offense,” Anderson said. “We made some adjustments we think we needed to make. Kids have handled it good. They’ve handled it as good as you can expect them to.”

The defensive coordinator role is one Anderson had to find the perfect candidate for. Being an offensive-minded coach, Anderson needs, in his words, “somebody I could completely trust” to run the defense and make things work. The decision was an important one, but also a quick one.

“It literally took me about five seconds. As soon as Banda told me he was leaving, I called Joe immediately,” Anderson said. “I knew exactly what I wanted and I feel like he’s the perfect fit for us.”

Joe Cauthen, the man in question, is the new defensive coordinator. And he’s worked with Anderson quite a bit over the years. He spent five seasons with him as the DC at Arkansas State, helping the team to a pair of Sun Belt championships and appearing in bowl games every season while Cauthen was there.

Joe Cauthen, during his time with Houston, fires up the team during pre-game activities prior to game against the Washington State Cougars on September 13, 2019, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. (Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

“We took over a decimated roster (at Arkansas State), had 55 scholarship players when we got there,” Anderson said. “So he went through the rebuilding process with me. He did a great job with the defense before he left to go to Houston. But we go back all the way to mid-90s when we were at Trinity Valley together.”

Cauthen’s most recent work came with Stephen F. Austin. His defense ranked 86th (of 123 FCS teams) in yards allowed per game but were 45th in turnovers forced, 56th in sacks and 48th in tackles for loss. Many of Cauthen-led defenses have ranked relatively high in tackles for loss and sacks. In 2021 as the DC for Buffalo, the Bulls were 16th in sacks and 36th in tackles for loss. While with Houston in 2020 the Cougars were also 16th in sacks and 21st in TFLs.

While at Arkansas State and working with Anderson, Cauthen’s defenses were also among the best in forcing turnovers. The Red Wolves tallied 79 interceptions during Cauthen’s tenure, the seventh-highest total among all FBS teams during that five-year span. Over the final four seasons Cauthen was with ASU, it ranked 21st in defensive touchdowns, 22 total including an FBS-leading eight in 2015.

That defensive philosophy — forcing turnovers and tackles for loss even when the defense may not be elite in terms of yards allowed — fits right in with what Banda did in his two seasons at USU. In the 2021 season, the Aggies ranked a mediocre 77th in total defense, but were 10th in turnovers forced and sixth in tackles for loss. In 2022, USU was 82nd in yards allowed but 10th in tackles for loss.

Anderson’s praise for Cauthen was high for everything from work ethic, coaching ability and fit.

“There’s nobody who’s going to out-work him,” Anderson said. “He puts his heart and soul in what he’s doing with the kids. He’s one 0f the technically sound coaches I’ve ever been around. And he fits what we do and I think our kids have seen that.”

The change from Banda to Cauthen came very late in the typical coaching cycle. Banda’s departure to become the safeties coach for the Cleveland Browns occurred on Feb. 21, less than a month before the initial spring practice start date of March 14. That development pushed the start date back and Anderson said that Cauthen has put in a lot of work in the short time period and it paid off with a good start on day one of spring ball.

Overall, the turnover means even more new faces for the Aggies. But coaching philosophy isn’t likely to change. The offense will run the ball, try to protect it while making big plays in the passing attack, and the defense will be aggressive in making big plays like TFLs, sacks and turnovers.

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