By early a.m. Saturday in this city that never sleeps, Utah State football players who had accomplished what no other Aggies have ever done in a century of USU football were beginning to scatter to the winds. Following the massive victory party at the Riviera Hotel, players and coaches began following their own agendas for the remainder of the holiday break to spread this new legend of the '93 Aggies.
No more practices. No more videotape sessions. No more meetings.They had prepared well and accomplished all the unrealistic things that this team dreamed of, except for the 12-0 record. And perhaps this was even, in a way, better. To come from 1-5 to tie for the Big West Conference championship and then to thoroughly dominate an opponent with a far better record and win a bowl game for the first time in Utah State's history is a most special feat that can be appreciated because of its sheer improbability.
"They did a great job of hanging together after being 1-5," said coach Charlie Weatherbie. "The coaches did an excellent job keeping the kids together, and I don't believe that even the fans ever gave up hope."
On Friday night in the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, the Aggies came full circle. They had broken their five-game losing streak in that very stadium by defeating UNLV on Oct. 23. On Dec. 17, they beat Ball State 42-33 to win Las Vegas Bowl II and extend their winning streak to six games, completing their historical 1993 season record at 7-5.
"Beating UNLV really got it rolling," Weatherbie said.
It was almost like it came on cue. President George Emert and athletic director Chuck Bell spent the spring, summer and fall trying to convince people they need to upgrade the athletic facilities to attract better athletes to spread Utah State's name so that the best students will want to come to school in Logan, and the football team follows it up winning the season's first bowl game on national television.
"This is going to be a great springboard into the recruiting season," said Weatherbie. He and his assistants will be able to show recruits their bowl watches and tell them about the Big West championship/bowl championship rings that all on the team will eventually receive.
Some players and coaches returned to Logan Saturday, some lingered in Vegas, some went directly home with friends or family and three seniors - Jim Ray, Jed DeVries and Jermaine Younger - headed to Montgomery, Ala., to practice for the Blue-Gray Game on Christmas Day.
And now the work really begins for Weatherbie and his staff. In just two seasons, they took the Aggies from losing the close ones to winning the close ones to winning a championship and a bowl.
But 22 seniors leave this team, 15 of them starters and three of them primary backups. "We have got to reload," Weatherbie says.
The graduation of Anthony Calvillo and backup Dean Grosfeld leaves only untried underclassmen at quarterback for next year. Of the three youngsters coming up in the program, redshirt freshman Matt Wells is the only one to have thrown a pass in a college game, and he was 0-for-1.
Replacing linebacker Younger will be equally as difficult. Younger began starting some games as a freshman and rarely took a down off the past two seasons.
Also graduating are most of the receivers - Ray, Aubrey Thompson, Greg Thompson, Toney Jenkins, Cotie McMahon, Mike Lee - all of the offensive-line starters except freshman Darrin Mitchell, both starting defensive ends and three starters in the secondary.
The Aggies will return enough running backs that observers often joke that USU should go to the wishbone, especially with Weatherbie being an Oklahoman, but he doesn't even joke about it. No, he says firmly.
There are 20 seniors coming up for next year. Leadership jobs as well as position jobs are open. "Every team has a little different nucleus," Weatherbie says. "There are always one or two that stand up and lead in their own way."
And that's the kind of lifelong lessons Weatherbie wants his players to take with them. To Weatherbie, this season that has turned the Utah State program around was worth much more than just winning. He says his desire as a coach is to affect young lives in a positive way, and for a group of student-athletes to be able to turn their fortune around like the Aggies did should give them a blueprint for dealing with life's difficulties. "That's why I'm in coaching," Weatherbie says.