Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on Utah State University's athletic program. Today, USU Athletic Director Scott Barnes sizes up the state of Aggie athletics.
LOGAN — When it comes to collegiate conference affiliations past, present and future, Utah State University's motto might be summed up best by that old Stephen Stills rock 'n roll classic: Love the one you're with.
Indeed, while many USU fans can't help but wonder what might have been a year ago — when schools started playing musical chairs, the almighty domino effect impacted several leagues and the Aggies were mentioned among the candidates that might be invited to join the Mountain West Conference — Utah State's athletic hierarchy has taken a positive approach.
Instead of wishing and whining about what could have been, just love the one you're with.
So while the Aggies remain a member of the Western Athletic Conference for the foreseeable future, they're going to make the most of the situation and just try to be the best WAC school they can be. That means trying to get their football program over the hump (they haven't had a winning season since 1996), putting a championship-contending men's basketball team out on the court year in and year out, and continuing to be competitive in all other sports across the board.
"We were never offered a spot in the Mountain West," said Scott Barnes, now in his fourth year as Utah State's athletic director. "At the end of the day, we weren't in that mix, we just weren't, because of where football was at the time.
"What I think is lost in all this is when you go back and look at what our goal is, and what our vision statement is for football and other sports, it's about winning championships and graduating student-athletes at a high level. ... Building a football program that is a consistent winner is very important to our entire athletic enterprise.
"And I'll tell you this, when you're trying to get a program out of the ground and create that momentum and sustain excellence over a long period, we've got an unbelievable opportunity ahead of us to do that," he said. "We're not climbing over Boise State any more; we're not climbing over a top-5 program in the nation to do that.
"And I think that opportunity is what we've got to hang on to and focus on — let's be the best program in the WAC, and beyond that who knows where we go from there. Let's focus on winning championships in the league we're in, and we haven't done that yet in football."
With that glorious goal in mind, Barnes has been busy implementing a three-pronged "Football Competitive Excellence Plan" that he hopes will get the Aggies where they want to go.
The three key elements of USU's focus are: 1) The continued improvement and development of athletic facilities; 2) Creating a scheduling philosophy that is more conducive to sustained success; and 3) Building and balancing the department's budget so that things like coaches' salaries, recruiting requirements and other necessary expenditures can keep pace with other WAC and Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
"Those three things, we felt, no matter who the football coach was — at the time it was Brent Guy — we needed as an administration to bring focus and a sense of urgency to what we were not doing," Barnes said. "And we needed to provide the tools and the resources so that whomever the coach might be, they had a chance to be successful."
As far as facilities go, the Laub Athletics-Academics Complex — with its tradition-steeped Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame and Sports Hall of Honor, enhanced weight-training facilities, new indoor turf, a first-class team meeting room and a "suite" luxury box that overlooks Romney Stadium — has been a huge, welcome addition.
Next up on the drawing board are a strength and conditioning center, along with a practice facility for basketball and a competitive playing venue for women's volleyball. After that, major improvements to the football stadium — including improved concourses, concessions, rest rooms, fan amenities, a renovated press box offering elevator access, and premium seating with suites, loges and club seating — are planned.
Since Barnes came on board a little more than three years ago, USU's athletic budget has grown from less than $13 million $19.5 million. That affords Utah State much more stability and, most importantly, it's a balanced budget that has been bolstered by vital, new revenue streams.
And, schedule-wise, USU's braintrust is doing its darnedest to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued the program for years.
"If you look at this year's schedule, it's exactly where we want it to be," Barnes said. "In our 100-years-plus history, we've only played six home games a handful of times. We've got six this year, and that's our plan every year.
"We'll play up once each year for a guarantee, and Big Sky schools — Weber State, Southern Utah, Idaho State, because of their geographic proximity — are priorities for us to play at home. And we want to play Mountain West schools home-and-home.
"We want to continue the BYU and Utah rivalries," he said. "We've gotten a lot of heat, and I got a lot of heat personally, when we had a (two-year) hiatus with Utah. But it was something that fit into Utah's plans at the time because they wanted to play Notre Dame and it fit into our plans because we wanted to implement a new scheduling philosophy. And that was to get those six home games and bring more balance to what we're doing.
"And in doing so, the end result is to create momentum. We have been 0-4 forever in the past in our non-conference games, and in the last decade and a half or so we haven't had any established momentum. So that non-conference schedule is critical to do that, to establish that momentum and, yeah, to win. So I think we're there."
Barnes noted that a new four-year, home-and-home series starts with the Utes next year and that BYU is already on the Aggies' schedule from 2011 through 2015 as well. He has extended the contracts of USU head football coach Gary Andersen, along with that of men's basketball coach Stew Morrill and the track and field, women's basketball, volleyball and soccer teams' coaches as well.
"In all of our sports, we've got some wonderful coaches," Barnes said. "We have literally the right people on the bus.
"Athletics is to Utah State what the front porch is to somebody's home — it's not the most important room, but it's the most visible, and I love the people who are standing on the front porch, our coaches and our student-athletes. Extending those coaches' contracts is another piece to long-term stability and growth for us."
Though Andersen has gone just 8-16 combined in his first two years at the Utah State helm, Barnes is confident the third-year USU coach can eventually turn around the Aggies' long-suffering football fortunes, even though it could be a painstaking process that may take awhile.
Patience, thus, will be an important part of that process. But Barnes feels like they've already made some great strides and have started turning the corner.
"We've got a long ways to go, but we're much further along and we have a plan," he said. "... We've got a lot of work ahead of us, and we've got to continue to make improvements in football and across all of our sports.
"But we've brought our focus to football because if football succeeds, we all succeed — all of our programs succeed, bottom line. It's our biggest opportunity as it relates to revenue generation and fan support.
"We haven't arrived; we've got a lot of work to do, but I love the direction we're going. I like the plan we have in place," Barnes said. "We put that plan together three years ago and we have not arrived; we're not finished by any means, but we think we have come a long ways."
Now, they need to climb over that mountain-sized hump and attain the stirring success they've long been striving for in football.
And, if that day down the road ever comes that the Aggies are invited to join the Mountain West or another higher-profile conference, one thing seems certain.
They're gonna love the one they're with.
email: rhollis@desnews.com
Utah State football
Year Conf. Coach Rec.
1992 Big West Weatherbie 5-6
1993 Big West Weatherbie 7-5
1994 Big West Weatherbie 3-8
1995 Big West Smith 4-7
1996 Big West Smith 6-5
1997 Big West Smith 6-6
1998 Big West Arslanian 3-8
1999 Big West Arslanian 4-7
2000 Big West Dennehy 5-6
2001 none Dennehy 4-7
2002 none Dennehy 4-7
2003 Sun Belt Dennehy 3-9
2004 Sun Belt Dennehy 3-8
2005 WAC Guy 3-8
2006 WAC Guy 1-11
2007 WAC Guy 2-10
2008 WAC Guy 3-9
2009 WAC Andersen 4-8
2010 WAC Andersen 4-8