Arkansas State? Husky 2021 Opponent Has New Football Coach

In nine months, the University of Washington football team will host Arkansas State, a first-time opponent, at Husky Stadium.

That would be the Red Wolves.

They hail from Jonesboro, 70 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, and a half hour west of the Arkansas-Missouri state line.

Arkansas State had a coach, Blake Anderson, it greatly admired.

Winner. Widower. One of them.

On Saturday, Anderson accepted the Utah State job to replace the fired Gary Anderson, no relation.

In turn, Blake Anderson was replaced after seven seasons at Arkansas State on Saturday by Butch Jones, the one-time Tennessee head coach and most recently an Alabama special assistant to Nick Saban.

It's a little more complicated than that.

Nothing against Arkansas State's Anderson, but the Utah State players collectively rebelled and opted out of their final game Saturday against Colorado State to protest the university's handling of the coaching situation and the interim guy.

The Aggies were offended by comments made by Utah State president Noelle Cockett, who registered concerns over the cultural and religious background of Frank Maile, Utah State's interim coach, co-defensive coordinator and another candidate for the job.

Maile, a former Utah State player, is Polynesian and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Anderson will try to win over the Utah State players after guiding the Red Wolves to six consecutive bowl games until this pandemic-disrupted season, when Arkansas State finished 4-7. Still, he led his Sun Belt Conference team to a program-boosting 35-32 victory over Kansas State.

Arkansas State fans felt a close connection with Anderson because they suffered right along with him when his wife, Wendy, lost a long battle with cancer and died shortly before the 2019 season began.

Jones has SEC credentials and seems welcome at his new job. He beat Georgia and Florida and turned in a pair of nine-win seasons at Tennessee, which became impatient anyway and fired him.

He and the Red Wolves play Washington on Sept. 18 in Seattle.

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