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BURBANK, Calif. — Oregon State was picked to finish last in the Pac 12 North, and first-year Beavers head coach Gary Andersen has quite the rebuilding job on his hands.
The Beavers will start an inexperienced quarterback and return just two starters on defense. Andersen will face a tough schedule in his inaugural year in orange and black, including a return trip to Salt Lake City on Halloween night.
"It's fun to go back and be in front of those fans," Andersen said. "It's a special place. It's where I graduated, and my family is still there. It'll be emotional and fun, but at the end of the day, it's another football team. I understand how good of a team we're playing. Much respect to the University of Utah. It's a hard place to play, but we're going to come in swinging."
Andersen, who came to Corvallis after spending time as head coach at Wisconsin and Utah State, is confident he made the right move.
"I need to be at a place where my beliefs fit the culture of the beliefs of the university," he said. "I'm not saying there's one way to do it, but I can't function if we're not on the same page.
"We are at this place, at Oregon State, and they've been nothing but great. It's been good to be back in this conference."
Andersen believes he has found that right fit at Oregon State. He brought some familiar names with him, too. Quarterbacks coach Kevin McGiven comes from Utah State, and Ilaisa Tuiaki and Kalani Sitake also joined his coaching staff.
He also signed several Utah high school prospects, such as American Fork's Zach Katoa.
"There are good players. We're going to work like crazy to recruit Utah," Andersen said. "Utah is going to do the same thing, and so is Oregon, Stanford, UCLA. It's a respect thing to me, and it should be a compliment and not an attack. You have good people and good young men.
"I have tremendous respect for the state of Utah as a whole and the type of football. Why wouldn't you want those guys to be on your staff?"
