For the second time in about a year, Southern Miss hired a new head coach.
Charles Huff was hired as Southern Miss’ coach after the 2024 season and brought many of his players with him from Marshall, where he won a Sun Belt Championship. But now Huff has gone to Memphis to lead the Tigers.
Which left USM looking for a new leader. Huff turned the program around in a short amount of time, as the Golden Eagles went from 1-11 in 2024 to 7-5 last season – and they were a win over Troy away from appearing in the conference title game.
With that success, USM picked a head coach that provided some continuity and had familiarity with the program, hiring Blake Anderson.
Here’s more about Anderson and his resume:
What’s Southern Miss Head Coach Blake Anderson’s Salary?
Blake Anderson will reportedly have a base salary of $850,000 every season over the course of his four-year contract at Southern Miss. Previous USM head coach Charles Huff made $950,000 in total pay last year, according to USA Today.
Blake Anderson’s Coaching History
| Years | Team | Position |
| 2026-present | Southern Miss | HC |
| 2025 | Southern Miss | HC |
| 2023-present | Utah State | HC/OC/QBs |
| 2021-22 | Utah State | HC |
| 2014-20 | Arkansas State | HC |
| 2012-13 | North Carolina | OC/QBs |
| 2010-11 | Southern Miss | OC/QBs |
| 2008-09 | Southern Miss | QBs/Run Game Coordinator |
| 2007 | Louisiana | OC/QBs |
| 2002-04 | Middle Tennessee | Co-OC/WRs |
| 2001 | New Mexico | WRs |
| 1999-2000 | New Mexico | RBs |
| 1998 | Trinity Valley CC | OC |
| 1995-97 | Trinity Valley CC | QBs/WRs/DBs |
| 1994 | Howard Payne | WRs |
| 1993 | Eastern New Mexico | WRs |
| 1992 | Eastern New Mexico | GA |
What’s Southern Miss Head Coach Blake Anderson’s Record?
Blake Anderson is 74-55 in the FBS as a head coach. He went 23-17 in his three years at Utah State and was 51-37 at Arkansas State from 2014-20.
Anderson is 3-7 in bowl games after coaching USM during its New Orleans Bowl appearance in 2025.
How Old Is Southern Miss Head Coach Blake Anderson?
Blake Anderson is 57 years old.
Southern Miss Head Coach Blake Anderson’s Background
Anderson was USM’s offensive coordinator last year after spending 2021-23 at Utah State. At USU, his teams made three bowl appearances and won a Mountain West Championship in 2021.
Anderson was fired by USU, however. According to a statement from Utah State, Anderson was fired after a “thorough external review of alleged noncompliance with university policies that implement Title IX, which require full and timely reporting of disclosures of sexual misconduct — including domestic violence — and prohibit employees from investigating disclosures of sexual misconduct themselves.”
Anderson went to USM as an assistant after that and is a head coach once again.
This isn’t the first time Anderson’s been a head coach in the Sun Belt. He went 51-37 at Arkansas State. He led the Red Wolves to two Sun Belt Championships in 2015 and 2016.
This also wasn’t the first time he’s coached at Southern Miss, as he was an OC there from 2010-11, was a quarterbacks coach from 2008-11, and was a run game coordinator there from 2008-09.
After his playing career, first as a quarterback and wide receiver at Baylor and then as a wideout at Sam Houston, Anderson began his collegiate coaching career at Eastern New Mexico. He was a graduate assistant there in 1992 and then coached wide receivers in 1993 before moving on to coach wideouts at Howard Payne in 1994. After that, he was a recruiting coordinator who coached quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defensive backs at Trinity Valley Community College from 1995-97 and was the team’s offensive coordinator in 1998.
He’s been an OC at Louisiana (2007) and North Carolina (2012-13) and a co-offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee (2002-04). He also coached wide receivers at New Mexico in 2001 – where he also coached running backs from 1999-2000 – and at Middle Tennessee. He mentored QBs at Louisiana in 2007 and at North Carolina from 2012-13.
