Anae brings 36 years of collegiate coaching experience with him to Utah State, including 15 seasons as Bronco Mendenhall’s offensive coordinator.
Football
1/3/2026 8:26:00 PM
LOGAN, Utah – One of the top offensive architects in college football, Robert Anae (Uh-nye), has been named Utah State’s offensive coordinator, it was announced by second-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall on Saturday.
A three-time nominee for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach, Anae’s offenses have finished in the top 25 of 10 different NCAA offensive statistical categories a total of 56 times in his 18-year tenure as an offensive coordinator, including 21 top 10 rankings.
Anae brings 36 years of collegiate coaching experience with him to Utah State and has helped 28 teams to bowl eligibility.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Robert Anae as our offensive coordinator at Utah State,” said Mendenhall. “Robert and I share a long history together, and the success we’ve had side by side speaks for itself. His ability to develop quarterbacks is as good as anyone in college football. Robert understands how to build an offense that is smart, adaptable, and player driven. He is the perfect fit for our program, our staff, and the direction we are taking Aggie Football.”
Anae has spent 15 seasons working for Mendenhall as an offensive coordinator at Virginia (2016-21), and two different stints at BYU (2013-15, 2005-10). Anae also has coaching stops at North Carolina State, Syracuse, Arizona, Texas Tech, UNLV, Boise State, Ricks College and Hawai’i.
“The most amazing brand of offense I have been associated with was forged working with Bronco Mendenhall,” said Anae. “I’m blessed and excited to prove that our program has what it takes to win a conference championship”.
Most recently, Anae spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at North Carolina State (2023-24) and one season at Syracuse (2022), helping both programs to national rankings and bowl bids as Syracuse was ranked as high as No. 14 nationally, while North Carolina State finished the 2023 season ranked 21st with a 9-4 record.
In his six seasons at Virginia, the Cavaliers were bowl eligible in all but his first season, highlighted by an ACC Coastal Division Championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl in 2019.
Prior to his tenure at Virginia, Anae spent the 2013-15 seasons as the offensive coordinator/inside receivers coach at BYU in what was his second stint with the Cougars. That tenure culminated with BYU finishing No. 14 in the final rankings and having the No. 10-ranked rushing attack in the country.
In between his stints at BYU, Anae worked at Arizona as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Anae’s first job at a Power 5 program came when he was on Mike Leach’s inaugural staff at Texas Tech, where he was the offensive line coach from 2000-04, during a time when the Red Raiders put together one of the most prolific offenses in NCAA history. For three of his five years on staff, Texas Tech led the nation in passing and was never outside the top 11. They also led the nation in total offense in 2003 (582.8), a mark that currently stands as the eighth-highest total in FBS history.
Anae began his coaching career as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line at Hawai’i under Dick Tomey in 1986-87. He was then a graduate assistant for a pair of years at BYU in 1990 and 1991 before coaching the offensive line at Ricks College in Idaho from 1992-95. Anae coached the offensive front for a year at Boise State in 1996 before moving to UNLV for a pair of seasons, the final as running game coordinator along with his line duties in 1998.
He and his wife, Liane, have two sons and a daughter. His son Famika played on the offensive line at BYU. Anae’s father, Famika Sr., and brothers Brad and Matt also played football for BYU.
Anae graduated from BYU in 1986 with a degree in political science. He went on to earn two more degrees, an M.S. in sociology in 1990 from Hawai’i and a PH.D. in sociology in 1999 from BYU.
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