Anderson earned his bachelor's degree in 1941 at age twenty, and was in graduate school in Eugene when he accepted his first head coaching job at Baker High School in eastern Oregon that October.[6]
He served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II and returned to Baker in 1945, then moved to western Oregon at Medford in 1946 and Grants Pass in 1947.[7][8] His 1950 team was state runner-up and he had a career prep record of 167–43 (.795)[9] prior to taking the Gonzaga job in April 1951 at age thirty.
College coach and administrator
Gonzaga's previous head coach, L. T. Underwood, finished the 1951 season at 8–22 (.267) and resigned after just two years with the Bulldogs. Anderson's first team was much improved in 1952 at 19–16 (.543), and after two seasons, he took on the added role of AD in 1953. The program elevated to NCAA Division I in 1958, joined the Big Sky Conference as a charter member in 1963, and opened the on-campus Kennedy Pavilion in 1965.[2][10] Anderson was Big Sky coach of the year in 1966, and stepped down as AD in 1972, then surprisingly left several weeks later to become head coach at Montana State in Bozeman, a conference rival.[9] He spent two seasons at MSU, then departed for another Big Sky school in 1974 to become the athletic director at Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Anderson oversaw the building of the Walkup Skydome and was also on the board of directors of the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe; he stayed at NAU nearly a decade and retired at the end of 1983 at age 63.[11]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion