A Utah athlete’s arrest, a coach’s firing, and the strict rules for reporting student misconduct

SALT LAKE CITY – The screaming started late at night.

A neighbor looked outside her North Logan home in April 2023, expecting to possibly see college students playing in the snow.

But in a statement to police, that witness described a much different scene: a woman crying and yelling “get off me” and “you’re choking me,” and a man on top of her, holding her down on the ground.

Officers arrested the man, who was a Utah State University athlete, in a case that went on to have profound impact on the Logan campus.

The university fired the head football coach and two other employees in July over how they responded, a wave of severe consequences that came as the school has tried to improve and distance itself from a history of failing to respond properly when male students assault women.

Utah State’s policies require coaches to report sexual misconduct, including relationship violence and sexual assault, to the school. Under federal law, they must then step back. But the school says those things didn’t happen.

Citing an outside review, the university contends former head coach Blake Anderson didn’t report what he knew directly to the school’s Title IX office. Anderson also “took it upon himself to investigate” and sought out “witness statements supporting the player’s defense” from the victim and a roommate, according to a university letter of intent to terminate his employment.

Anderson doesn’t dispute that he gathered evidence, or that he relied on an administrator to file the report. But he denies any wrongdoing, has insisted he “handled this matter by the book,” and said he plans to sue the school over its decision. His attorneys alleged in a statement last week that university administrators “have unfortunately chosen to lead what is essentially a public smear campaign” against the coach.

Do’s and don’ts of reporting misconduct

Title IX, the federal law barring sex-based discrimination in schools, requires universities to be impartial in their investigations of student relationship violence or sexual assault, said W. Scott Lewis, a partner with TNG Consulting who trains college administrators and athletic officers in Title IX compliance.

But when it comes to their players, coaches have a clear conflict, Lewis said.

“In some cases, in recruiting, they stood in the living room and told the parent they would treat them like their own child,” he said. “So, it’d be like a parent trying to investigate their own kid. You just don’t do it.”

Lewis, a co-founder of the Association of Title IX Administrators, said it’s appropriate for them to talk to their athletes to try to be supportive, but it’s improper for them to reach out to witnesses.

If they do, they can make schools vulnerable to lawsuits or sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education, Lewis said. They can also cause further damage to those who’ve been through traumatic experiences.

“When you start asking a lot of questions, you can actually be doing harm,” Lewis said. “Just yet another reason you shouldn’t be doing it.”

Anderson’s attorney Aubri Thomas told KSL that Anderson was trying to figure out what happened so he could meet his own obligation to promptly discipline the athlete if needed.

“Broadly speaking, our position is that he abided by all the requirements of his contract, and by the industry standards and by what every football coach in the industry is typically trained to do,” Thomas said.

The university says Anderson and football staff had multiple trainings on their reporting requirements before this happened, along with regular meetings with its Title IX office.

Outside of Utah, other college coaches and athletic departments have also been accused of sidestepping the official process for handling reports of player misconduct.

Michigan State University basketball coach Tom Izzo got in touch with a witness about an allegation of sexual assault before police did, as reported in 2020 by ESPN.

The same year, USA Today revealed Louisiana State University’s athletic department kept reports of sexual assault to itself. LSU has since settled a lawsuit with 10 women who said the university mishandled their cases. And last year a jury in Texas found Baylor University liable for failing to protect a student after she reported that a football player assaulted her several times. A review commissioned by the university found the football team had its own disciplinary system reinforcing “the perception that rules applicable to other students are not applicable to football players.”

A case in court and fallout on campus

In body camera video from April 2023, North Park police officers can be seen asking a woman about red marks on her neck, talking about how they thought she was grabbed and pulled by her hoodie, and retrieving a survey used to assess a victim’s risk of being killed in domestic violence.

Former Utah State starting defensive back Ajani Carter transferred schools and pleaded no contest in Logan’s First District Court to a misdemeanor charge of assault as part of a plea in abeyance agreement.

Court records indicate the case will be dismissed altogether in November if he meets the conditions of the agreement: completing an anger management course and paying a $690 fee.

The former Aggie declined comment for this story through Pitcher Law, the firm representing him.

To evaluate the coach’s and athletic department’s response, the university commissioned an investigation from Kansas City-based law firm Husch Blackwell. The review cost $137,000, according to copies of invoices provided by the university.

Like Anderson, former deputy athletic director Jerry Bovee has maintained he did not do anything wrong in how he responded. Bovee’s now in a formal review process contesting his termination and told KSL in a statement he believes the school will reverse course.

“I trust that once the truth comes out, my alma mater and the institution I love will reverse and correct this decision – a decision that appears to be driven by the agenda of a few administrators, but is not to the benefit of the university as a whole,” Bovee said in a statement to KSL.

He said he’s been dedicated throughout his career to “promoting the values and intent of Title IX, including supporting and promoting female athletes and preventing and reporting any misconduct.”

The school also fired Austin Albrecht, the football team’s director of player development and community, saying he did not comply with its policy for reporting sexual misconduct.

Albrecht said in a statement to KSL that he is “deeply disappointed and saddened by the recent decisions made by Utah State University.”

A campus under a microscope

Those decisions came at a time when the school was still under federal scrutiny for mishandling reports of sexual harassment and assault under Title IX.

Utah State entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve its response after the release of a damning DOJ report in 2020 documenting widespread failures. The report states “it was common for the university to close incident files involving the football team after only minimal investigation.”

That history is top of mind for Utah State athletic director Diana Sabau.

“The DOJ has lived on campus since 2020 due to football,” Sabau told KSL. “We have to be better.”

Sabau started the job as the school’s top sports administrator after the player’s arrest and the coach’s response came to light. She and the university president made the decision to clean house.

“Our coaches should and do know what to do,” Sabau told KSL. “Sometimes good people make bad decisions. But we have to be held accountable.”

Anderson previously faced criticism in 2021 for telling his players while talking about sexual assault that “it’s never been more glamorized to be a victim.”

The coach later apologized after an audio recording of his comments surfaced, saying he regretted the words he used.

The recording was part of a student’s lawsuit alleging the school did not respond properly to her report of being raped by a football player. Kaytri Flint later reached a $500,000 settlement with the university.

DOJ’s monitoring of the school continues through May 2025.

“We are carefully monitoring the ongoing settlement with USU, which covers all of USU’s programs and activities, including the athletics department,” a DOJ spokesperson told KSL.

The federal agency did not answer a list of questions about its presence on campus and the impact of the case at the center of the three firings.

Lewis said scenarios like Utah State’s – with multiple employees losing their jobs – are increasingly common.

“Schools are taking this more seriously in a way they hadn’t 25 years ago,” Lewis said. In the past, he said, “it was accepted, it was tolerated. Far less so now than before.”

Have you experienced something you think just isn’t right? The KSL investigators want to help. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we can get working for you. 

Additional resources:

If you or someone you know is going through abuse, help is available.

If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 1-801-736-4356 (English) or 1-801-924-0860 (Spanish). You can also call the Rape Recovery Center office line during office hours at 801-467-7282 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.