"I feel I've got very capable guys on both sides of the ball that I can rely on," Andersen said.

The biggest challenge Andersen said he faces in trying to finish the rebuilding job started by the now-departed Brent Guy comes during the spring.

"Getting through the first offseason is going to be huge," he said. "We have to identify our talent, evaluate everything and get through spring ball just to find out where we really are.

"I've told everybody I know that the first offseason is the most work you can do as a football coach," Andersen added. "Just putting everything together takes a lot of time and energy and then you have to do the football stuff."

But if there's a man out there who can get it done, Andersen hopes it's him.

His family will stay in their Draper home through the spring and finish the school year. He has three children attending Juan Diego and noted there hasn't been much of anything except success for the clan with his sons playing for the Soaring Eagle varsity and ninth-grade teams.

"It's been a pretty good football year for the Andersen family," he said. "We're 35-1. That's makes a pretty good year if you ask me."

Aggie fans, undoubtedly, hope that success moves north with him.

E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com