LOGAN — The last thing Brent Guy had to say as football coach at Utah State was left on the field — a dominating 47-2 beatdown of visiting New Mexico State.
The win left Guy and the Aggies with a 3-9 record and officially closed the books on the Guy era.
But Guy did not meet with the media to discuss the game or his time coaching the Aggies.
In fact, photographers were ushered away from the Utah State sideline during the fourth quarter in an effort that nearly prevented images of Guy and his players celebrating a victory from being captured. (Deseret News photographer Jeffrey D. Allred did break through to catch players dumping Guy with water.)
According to a USU spokesman, the decision to stay silent was Guy's alone and not an effort from USU administration to control what was said by a possibly emotional coach.
"He doesn't have to (meet with reporters), and apparently he didn't want to," USU media relations director Doug Hoffman said to reporters long after the game was over. "My guess is, it was completely coach Guy's decision."
Because it was in his contract — which included his final day at the Aggies coach — Guy did take part in a post-game radio show.
Guy's office, on the corner of the new locker room and football complex in Romney Stadium's north end zone, was empty following the game. Atop the wooden desk was a blank notepad, a pen and a discarded family pass to USU football games for the 2008 season. A box of neatly packed books and papers sat on the floor near the door, waiting to be removed.
And though Guy was silent, some of his players spoke briefly with the media before their interviews were cut short as soon as questions or comments about the outgoing coach were spoken.
"We wanted to do it for coach and do it for the seniors," USU quarterback Diondre Borel said. "We wanted to go out and get a win."
And so they did.
But it was one of only a handful of wins Utah State was able to enjoy with Guy on the sidelines.
The Aggies have been a woeful 9-38 during Guy's four seasons in Logan, and the three wins this season are the most he has led the team to — equaling the three from his first season with USU.
Following the game, Guy shook hands with his coaching counterparts and also met up with NMSU's associated athletic director Herb Taylor and handed him a slip of paper before leaving the field.
If there were questions about how the team itself might have entered the game knowing they were playing for a lame-duck coach, they were answered quickly with the convincing victory over an NMSU squad that looked more like it had given up on the season than Utah State had.
"Everybody just came out and played hard," Borel said. "We practiced hard these last couple of weeks. Even though we knew about Coach Guy's situation, we were still working hard and we were still motivated. We just came out and played hard every play."
The Aggie defense, especially, had as solid an outing as they could have hoped for.
NMSU had just 156 yards of total offense and minus-7 yards rushing as the USU Aggies controlled the line of scrimmage and had six sacks.
"I was just wanting to win, basically," said USU defensive lineman Ben Calderwood, who had three sacks and a fumble recovery in his final game as an Aggie. "We were just looking to us not giving up, ever."
But, as the lights faded in Romney Stadium and the raindrops fell, Guy's final statement was not made with words.
Rather, it was made by the effort shown by his players.
E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com