Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
LAS VEGAS — Nate Dreiling, the 33-year-old defensive coordinator who had never been a head coach and has only been at Utah State since January, now finds himself leading the program after a rough few weeks.
Eight days ago, the defensive mind was supposed to take his family on a trip to Disneyland during the offseason. But rather than the Happiest Place on Earth, Dreiling found himself Thursday above the Circa Resort & Casino addressing local, regional and national media at the Mountain West media summit in Las Vegas.
Life comes at you fast for a first-time (interim) head coach. But he's also used to doing hard things.
Dreiling's wife, Alexa, had been previously diagnosed with breast cancer. While celebrating the "light at the end of the tunnel" following her chemotherapy treatments, the Dreilings were on vacation when they got a call that would change his career: the university was informing head coach Blake Anderson of its intent to fire him amid allegations of Title IX violations and school policy.
"The tough part about it was we couldn't be there for the kids," Dreiling recalled. "It was the Fourth of July and everybody was home. That part was hard before Monday morning when I got in front of the team and got to get in front of the team, talk to them, and mostly just listen and respond. I let them know that every decision was going to be made from this point forward with their best interest in mind."
With limited experience, Dreiling has heard from "probably about 30" current and former head coaches around college football. He said he's worn out the phone of former Northwestern interim coach David Braun, the Wildcats' now-full-time head coach with which the two share an agent.
"I don't want to be blindsided by something that's going to hurt my players," Dreiling said. "How could I not make the mistakes for my players to have the best season they can?
"I'm a humble guy, and I don't have all the answers," he said, joking for reporters to pass that on to his wife. "But I'm going to make sure I do try to talk to as many people as possible."
When Dreiling enters the 2024 season, he will be the youngest active head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision for an Aggies team picked to finish seventh in the Mountain West.
But university officials are clearly confident in its pick as head coach in the interim status — and for good reason.
The 10-year coaching veteran came to Utah State last season after helping New Mexico State to a 10-5 record that included a 7-1 mark in Conference USA in 2023. It was the second 10-win season in the history of those Aggies, who ranked among the top-50 defenses in the country with 22.8 points allowed per game and 143.7 rush yards per game.
"There are tough times, whether that's cancer or coaching football," said Dreiling, who coached under four-time cancer survivor Jerry Kill at New Mexico State. "But if you can be with tough people that you enjoy being around, that's how life goes about."
Dreiling's qualifications to steady the Aggies' ship are second to few, especially at the moment. But that doesn't make the sudden shakeup caused by Anderson's departure easy, either.
.@USUFootball interim head coach Nate Dreiling is new to Logan and new to the job. But he already knows S Ike Larsen is going to have a big year. pic.twitter.com/BNQrwTIC4N
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) July 11, 2024
Ike Larsen said he didn't hear about any changes until the morning of the school's announcement, when he woke up to a text telling him and his teammates to jump on a Zoom call for important news.
With the backdrop of an investigation and a late-offseason firing, the Aggies open the season Aug. 31 against Robert Morris before power conference opponents USC and Utah. That's helped keep football at the forefront, to an extent.
"It's not easy," said Larsen, an All-Mountain West first-team selection. "Coach Anderson was a great coach; it was shocking to hear the news, and it's just sad. Adversity hits, and you can either dwell on it or try to be positive about it.
"The game hasn't changed," he added. "The main thing is still to go out and try to compete for a Mountain West title. I think we're on the right track."
His current coach doesn't blame him; Dreiling came to Utah State because of Anderson, as well.
"This team loves coach Anderson, and we're going to use this opportunity to come together and play with a chip on our shoulder," he said. "Coach has meant a lot to me, and it's hard not to be able to communicate with him. I'm sure he feels the same."
Larsen admitted he considered transferring in the offseason, but "the only reason I stayed was coach Anderson." And while the whole situation has put his future with the Aggies in doubt, the junior from Smithfield also said he isn't planning on leaving immediately, either.
"Stuff happens, and you can't just up and leave," Larsen said. "I've got to finish what I started. I'm a big believer in that; I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to do what I need to do.
"But coach Anderson is definitely the only reason I stayed."
Dreiling, too, wants to start, finish or continue every job he took on when he signed his Utah State contract — even for a different position. Even in a short time, the Cache Valley community has come to mean a lot to him.
It is, after all, where his wife finished her radiation treatments, where the couple were told she was "cancer free" about two months ago.
"To say that this community means a lot to me is an understatement. It helped save a life," Dreiling said. "When you watch someone go through that, it's tough and puts everything in perspective. I'm, obviously, tickled to death to be here; our motto has been 'happy to be here, happy to be present and enjoy the moment.'"
Contributing: Josh Furlong
