Louisiana,'' he recounted, "and he called one day
and said, 'I've got a job for $10,000 for you in Hammond, Louisiana (40 miles from Baton Rouge).'''
Andersen didn't have to think about it.
"I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready to go.'''
Andersen was one of two assistants. Along with
English, who had been entrusted with resurrecting
football on campus, they began recruiting players
for a start-up the following season.
"We tried to bring back the program, but it didn't
happen,'' Andersen said. "They pulled the carpet
out from underneath us before we really got started and canceled the program.
"We got the word maybe two or three days before
Thanksgiving.''
So, they never got beyond the weight room with
their players; they never got on the field.
26 ยป VARSITY
JANUA RY 10, 2013
"That was my first taste (of coaching),'' Andersen said. "I'll never forget it. Stacey (his wife) and
I loaded up the car, grabbed a U-Haul and drove
straight back to Utah from Hammond.
"A couple of days later, I told my dad that I was
going to keep coaching and he was like, 'You're crazy.' He was taken aback by that one.''
It all falls under the heading of "paying your
dues'' in the profession, Andersen agreed.
"You've got to go through the good and the bad
to really understand what it takes,'' he said. "It creates work ethic, and it's a special person who wants
to coach. Everybody's drive is a little bit different.
"I've been through some great times and I've
been through some very tough times. But Stacey
and I have never once thought that we would do
anything different.''
