LOGAN, Utah — There is a shake-up happening at Utah State University as the athletic department continues to see major departures from its program.
After the university intended to let three people go — head football coach Blake Anderson, deputy athletic director Jerry Bovee, and another football staffer named Austin Albrecht — the school announced on Monday that it is also terminating Amy Crosbie, the executive associate athletic director for internal affairs.
"It’s messy — could be one of the messiest summers in Utah State history," said Eric Frandsen, co-host of Full Court Press on 106.9 FM The Fan in Logan.
"It’s kind of disappointing to see. When Utah State ends up in national headlines, you like to see it for the right reasons,” added his co-host, Jason Walker.
The university released a statement saying the first three were let go because of the results of a Title IX investigation.
"The report comes out and like that, they’re fired. It’s odd. I wish we knew more details. Maybe in time we will, but right now, it’s strange,” Frandsen said.
The university wouldn’t comment about Crosbie’s dismissal.
"Based on the reaction on our show, a lot of Aggie fans are just confused and upset,” Frandsen said about this whole situation.
"You know, I think it’s one of these things that just has to kind of work through the system,” said Charles Swenson, a professor at Utah State University. "Because we do have a grievance process here on campus, and I understand it’ll go through that grievance process and I’m sure that all sides will be heard and worked out at that point."
"To me, usually I see it as it takes two to tango a lot of the times, and so I think especially for a coaching staff where they are working so close together constantly to build a team, then it usually is going to take more than one member of the team for something to go wrong,” said Kart Smethurst, who lives in Logan.
Aggie fans hope this doesn’t impact the athletes or programs in the long term.
"There’s a lot of frustration and concern in what’s going to be the trust level moving forward with who’s left. It’s going to be a challenging couple of months for Utah State and its fans,” Frandsen said.
Bovee said in a statement that he was blindsided by the decision. He says he did report the incident that he believes is being questioned, so he plans to file a grievance.
