HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss announced Wednesday that it has hired former Utah State head coach Blake Anderson as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Anderson returns to Southern Miss after working for Larry Fedora from 2008-11. He went on to have 10 successful seasons as a Division I head coach at Arkansas State (2014-20) and Utah State (2021-23).

Anderson registered a 74-54 (.578) overall head coaching record, including a 53-27 (.663) conference mark. His teams went to nine bowl games and won one conference title.

Anderson has 30 years of coaching experience and has been part of six conference championships. He also won a national championship at the junior college level as part of the staff at Trinity Valley Community College in 1997.

Under Anderson, Utah State tied for the best turnaround in the nation in 2021, as it became the first Football Bowl Subdivision program ever to go from zero or one win to 11 wins the following season. Utah State also became the first FBS team in eight years to post a 7-0 road record.

Despite his success, Anderson was fired by Utah State in July because of alleged actions in 2023 that the school said violated his contract and university policy.

The school cited “significant violations” related to the reporting requirements for all Utah State employees on “investigating issues of sexual misconduct, including domestic violence” following a player’s arrest over a domestic incident in April 2023. Anderson has disputed the allegations.

Anderson was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during his first stint at Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles set school records for total offense in each of his last two years. In 2012, Southern Miss won a school-record 12 games and the Conference USA championship.

Under Anderson, the Golden Eagles were one of 14 teams in the country that averaged more than 200 yards per game in both rushing and passing in 2011. The Golden Eagles had nearly 6,500 yards of total offense and set a school record with 461.4 yards per game.