Robert Anae (born December 21, 1958) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player. Most recently, he was the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

(OC) for

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

, a position he held from December 2022 until being released in December 2024. Prior to NC State, he was the OC at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU), his alma mater, each under head coach

Bronco Mendenhall Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is an American college football coach who is the head coach at Utah State University (USU). He was previously the head coach at the University of New Mexico (UNM) for the 2024 season, the Unive ...

, and as the OC at Syracuse under head coach Dino Babers.

Career

Early life and playing career

Anae is of Samoan descent and grew up in Laie, Hawaii before graduating from Kahuku High School. He served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

from 1978 to 1980. He attended BYU and played football for the Cougars, switching from center to offensive guard. He was part of BYU's 1984 National Championship team, and also played in the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

each year from 1981 to 1984, as part of four

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) championship squads. Anae was second-team All-WAC as a senior and played in the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first s ...

before being drafted in the third round of the 1985 USFL Draft by the

New Jersey Generals The New Jersey Generals were a franchise of the United States Football League (USFL) established in 1982 to begin play in the spring and summer of 1983. The team played three seasons from 1983 to 1985, winning 31 regular season games and losing ...

Coaching career

Anae began as offensive line coach at

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1986 and continued through the next year. He came back to BYU for 1990 and 1991 as an offensive line graduate assistant and followed up at

Ricks College Ricks may refer to: People * Andre Ricks (born 1996), American basketball player * Bob Ricks (21st century), American police chief * Christopher Ricks (born 1933), British literary critic and scholar * Desmond Ricks, American football player * ...

from 1992 through 1995 as its offensive line coach. He coached offensive line at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

in 1996,

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

(UNLV) in 1997 and 1998, and

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, he returned to BYU where he served as offensive coordinator until his resignation on December 30, 2010.

Arizona

Anae served the 2011 and 2012 seasons as the offensive line coach and running game coordinator at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, under head coaches Mike Stoops and

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

. In January 2013, Anae returned to BYU as the offensive coordinator.

Virginia

On December 9, 2015, Anae announced he had accepted the offensive coordinator position at the

, going from BYU with

who was appointed the university's new head football coach. Anae left this position after Mendenhall announced his retirement from the head coaching job.

Syracuse

Anae was hired as the offensive coordinator at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

on December 26, 2021. The Orange started the season 6–0 for the first time since their undefeated 1987 season, and were ranked as high as No. 14 before losing five games in a row. Anae was not retained when head coach Dino Babers was relieved of his duties after seven seasons.

NC State

In December 2022, Anae was named the offensive coordinator at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. In his first season Anae lead the offense to a 9-4 season finishing 21st in the AP poll. He was released from his role in December 2024.

Personal life

Anae's father, Famika, and brothers, Brad and Matt, also played for BYU. His son, Famika, was a BYU offensive lineman before ending his career due to injures in 2012.

References

External links

NC State profile

Syracuse profile

Virginia profile

BYU coaching profile

BYU player bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anae, Robert Living people 1958 births American football centers American football offensive guards Arizona Wildcats football coaches Boise State Broncos football coaches BYU Cougars football coaches BYU Cougars football players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Ricks Vikings football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Sportspeople from Laie Players of American football from Honolulu County, Hawaii Coaches of American football from Hawaii Latter Day Saints from Hawaii American sportspeople of Samoan descent American Mormon missionaries in the United States Pacific Islander American players of American football 21st-century Mormon missionaries