LOGAN — As a high school football player, Brent Guy set a goal to play Division I college football at Oklahoma State University. Had he listened to everyone around him, and did what everybody thought was best for him, he may never have made it.
Instead of taking a scholarship to a junior college and guaranteed playing time, Guy walked on at Oklahoma State. As it turns out, Guy, after listening to himself, lettered for three years while starting at four different positions.
"In all the times in my life when I've had to make decisions like this — take the high road or the low road — I've always felt like I've been more successful in life by taking the high road, even if there is more risk involved," Guy said.
"The high road sometimes meaning the steep road or the rocky road (rather) than the easier path," he said.
If he had listened to the critics, he might not be in the position he is in today either as the head football coach at Utah State University.
To many, the job at Utah State appeared to be a career-killer, especially for a first-time head coach, with the lack of facilities and a tough schedule to go along with the fact the Aggies haven't had a winning season in nearly a decade.
Promises of new and upgraded facilities and the prospect of joining the Western Athletic Conference had been made to previous coaches, but the university was never able to deliver, until now.
The same university where Guy had coached for three seasons more than a decade earlier was heading in the right direction, and Guy was willing to return and jump aboard. He was hired in December, replacing Mick Dennehy, who was fired.
"Coming in with a new athletic director (Randy Spetman) and (going into) the WAC, I think all those things combined made it the kind of job I wanted to take as my first head job," Guy said.
"I knew the problems that we had with the infrastructure of the program, especially with the facilities. I knew they were working on them. I knew the university realizes to be competitive in the WAC we have to do those things."
One month before Guy was hired, Utah State was accepted into the WAC and will begin play this year. Early this year, new construction on the north end zone of Romney Stadium commenced.
No reason to leave
Guy was in a very comfortable situation as the defensive coordinator at Arizona State University. He'd been there for four years under head coach and good friend Dirk Koetter. The Sun Devils won the Sun Bowl this year and were poised for another great season next year.
His wife, Shawn, and their two children, Madison and Riley, enjoyed their neighborhood, schools and friends.
The weather was nice and the family had a swimming pool to help combat the scorching Arizona summer heat and the pains of continually moving.
But it was just time for Guy to move on. The situation was right. The place was right.
"The opportunity to take this job and live in Cache Valley, for me, was a pretty easy decision, even though I knew I was facing eight losing seasons," Guy said.
He'd been involved in coaching college football for 19 years. He slowly climbed the ladder from the bottom rung as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State to a recruiting coordinator to a linebackers coach and eventually to a defensive coordinator. Various coaching positions took him to four different schools, including Oklahoma State twice.
The next rung on his career ladder was a head-coaching position.
"When you're in a system like I've been in and you get the opportunity to be a head coach you can't be very selective and I don't say that in a derogatory manner," he said. "It's just a fact of life, especially when you're a defensive coach."
The natural tendency for most schools is to hire a coach with a high-powered offensive background to generate more excitement and increase ticket sales, he said.
He was one of three defensive coaches in the state of Utah to land their first head coaching positions — Kyle Whittingham and Bronco Mendenhall were defensive coordinators at Utah and BYU, respectively, before taking over this year as the head coach.
Learning from the best
During his time as an assistant, Guy was like a squirrel gathering food for winter. From every coach with whom he came into contact, he would pocket some coaching morsel to use at a later time.
From Pat Jones, who gave Guy his first job back in 1986 at Oklahoma State, it was about practice intensity and organization.
While at Utah State under Charlie Weatherbie, Guy learned the value of positive thinking, enthusiasm and energy.
After leaving Utah State to go back to his alma mater under Bob Simmons, Guy learned how to recruit and the different ways to enhance it, and under Koetter at Boise State and Arizona State, he learned total organization and how to delegate.
Guy hired 11 coaches, eight of which who are new to the university, to help him construct a well-rounded staff.
"When I saw myself as a head coach, first of all, it was morale, personnel decisions, discipline, conditioning and being able to step back and see the whole picture," he said. "(It was) to be able to evaluate and make decisions strictly as a head coach and not seeing it from one side or the other."
Instead of focusing just on the defense, which would be the natural tendency, Guy alternates meeting days with the offense, defense and special teams, in order to learn where his players will fit in.
Changing the mentality
Guy inherits a team that went 3-8 last year, and he also inherits a team that doesn't have any players, including fifth-year seniors, who have ever experienced a winning season.
"To win close games to get you over the hump gets you that confidence that you can win and if bad things happened they won't last unless you allow them to linger on," he said. "We work on that a lot at practice and talk about it at the end of practice."
He lost 16 seniors this year and will lose 16 more next year. Guy, who signed a five-year deal with a total compensation package of nearly $300,000 per year, inked 23 players to his first class, 21 of which were high school seniors.
He continually reminds himself it will take time to build numbers and change attitudes, but he's not going to use those reasons for losing games. He'll still expect his team to compete and win games.
"You've got to get guys to communicate and they have to know each other and trust each other and be committed to football and Utah State football as a team," he said.
"We're going to need every single guy, and we're going to have to figure out different roles for every individual to play and that's what they have to understand."
The Aggies open the 2005 season Sept. 3 when they host Nicholls State.
"We're going to have six home games this year and probably with the 12-game schedule we'll have six home games each year, which will be great for our fans. You have a lot better chance to win when you're at home," he said.
Along with Nicholls State, the Aggies host UNLV, San Jose State, Boise State, Louisiana Tech, and Nevada.
Utah State opens up its first WAC season Oct. 1 at Idaho.
Brent Guy
FULL NAME: Stanley Brent Guy
AGE: 44 (Sept. 5, 1960)
FAMILY: Wife, Shawn; children Madison (14), Riley (8). Oldest of three children, one brother, one sister.
HOBBIES: Spending time with his family skiing and hiking, and he intends on teaching his children to fly-fish.
FAVORITE MUSIC: Country. Before being a football coach he owned a bar/club, and he would hire Garth Brooks, who attended Oklahoma State at the same time he did, every Wednesday for $100 to perform. He charged two bucks' admission and Brooks would cover every time. His favorite artist is James Taylor.
FAVORITE MOVIES: Any John Wayne movie, but has recently caught up on all the Disney movies with his son, Riley. The last movie he saw was "Shark Tale."
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com