Robert Anae

Anae is of Samoan descent and grew up in Laie, Hawaii before graduating from Kahuku High School.[1] He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tulsa, Oklahoma 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 each year from 1981 to 1984, as part of four Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship squads. Anae was second-team All-WAC as a senior and played in the Hula Bowl before being drafted in the third round of the 1985 USFL Draft by the New Jersey Generals.[2]

Anae began as offensive line coach at University of Hawaii 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 from 1992 through 1995 as its offensive line coach. He coached offensive line at Boise State University in 1996, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1997 and 1998, and Texas Tech University from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, he returned to BYU where he served as OC until his resignation Dec. 30, 2010.[3][4] Anae served the 2011-12 season as the offensive line coach and running game coordinator at the University of Arizona, under head coaches Mike Stoops and Rich Rodriguez.[5][6] In January 2013, Anae returned to BYU as the OC.[7]

On December 9, 2015, Anae announced he had accepted the OC position at the University of Virginia, going from BYU with Mendenhall who was appointed the university's new head football coach.[8] Anae left this position [9] after Mendenhall announced his retirement from the head coaching job.[10]

Anae was hired as Syracuse's OC on December 26, 2021.[11]