The past year was an eventful one for Utah State athletics.
Multiple teams won conference titles in 2022, while others earned postseason berths, ending long droughts. There were fast starts and dismal ones, plus off-the-field distractions and challenges.
Here are 10 of the most notable stories at Utah State in 2022.
1) John Hartwell resigns as athletic director
In what should be considered one of the biggest surprises of the year, longtime and highly successful Utah State athletic director John Hartwell resigned his post mid-football season, on Nov. 1.
Hartwell held the job at USU for seven years and presided over an athletic department that won conference titles in football, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and women’s gymnastics, to name a few of the successes.
Hartwell had reportedly been considered a candidate for SEC jobs that opened during the fall, but ultimately left USU with the intention of spending more time with his family.
“As I leave Utah State, I want you to know I have the highest regard for the student-athletes, coaches, staff, student body, the Cache Valley community, and all of Aggie Nation,” Hartwell said. “There is an Aggie team spirit that permeates every part of Logan. It’s unlike any place I’ve seen.
“After 25 years in the business, my wife and I have agreed that our family, including Heather’s aging parents in Arkansas, need to be our No. 1 priority. We need to be there for them and for our beautiful daughters. This is the time. So, we leave with wonderful memories and hearts of gratitude. Until we meet again, Thank you all. Thank you for this remarkable chapter of our lives.”
USU moved quickly in naming Aggies alum Jerry Bovee interim AD; the department still doesn’t have a permanent athletic director and might not get one any time soon, in light of university president Noelle Cockett’s pending resignation.
2) USU men’s basketball matches best start in program history
Utah State is, at its core, a basketball school.
For as much success as the Aggies have had in football during the last decade and change — and for all the significant steps forward taken by multiple women’s programs — men’s basketball remains king in Logan.
And the 2022-23 Aggies did what only two previous teams could manage. With nothing but wins from Nov. 7 through Dec. 15, USU started the season 9-0, matching the best start to a year in program history.
Only the 1917-18 and 1938-39 Aggies have matched that feat.
USU had a chance to be alone in program history with a 10-0 start, but lost in devastating fashion to Weber State on Dec. 19.
“It’s a crappy feeling,” Utah State guard Rylan Jones told the Deseret News after the loss. “We’re going to think about this one a lot tonight and the things that we fell short on in the second half, but tomorrow is a new day and we’re going to come back with a better focus, more discipline and ready to take on tomorrow.”
Before that setback, the Aggies were one of only five undefeated teams remaining in all of DI basketball, and the hot start wasn’t a fluke.
Heading into the game against the Wildcats, Utah State led the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.457), was third in 3-pointers made per game (11.9), fourth in assists per game (20.0) and in bench points per game (37.67), fifth in scoring (88.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65) and eighth in field goal percentage (.508).
Whether or not USU becomes an NCAA Tournament team or MW champions, the 2022-23 Aggies basketball team has etched its place in history.
“Obviously, our guys are kicking themselves, but we understand that we’ve gotten a third of the way through the season at this point and the guys are off to a good start,” Utah State coach Ryan Odom said. “That’s just what it is, though, is a start to the season.”
3) Volleyball team makes NCAA tourney for first time in over a decade
USU women’s volleyball is in the midst of an incredible run of success going back to last season.
In 2021, the Aggies won a share of the Mountain West regular-season title. They also recorded the program’s most wins (22) since 2010, the program’s most wins ever against MW opponents (14) and the most wins at home (12) since 1979.
This season, USU did not win the regular-season championship nor have the kind of overall success of 2021, but the Aggies did win the conference tournament. It was the first conference tournament title for Utah State since 2010, when USU was in the WAC.
With the win over San Jose State, USU also clinched its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2010, which just so happened to be only the fifth-ever NCAA tourney berth in program history.
Utah State’s season came to an end in the NCAA Tournament — the Aggies were defeated by sixth-seeded Arkansas in straight sets — but under coach Rob Neilson (the 2021 Mountain West Coach of The Year) USU volleyball has become a problem for the rest of the conference and one of the most consistently successful teams at Utah State.
4) Utah State gymnastics wins its first-ever MRGC championship
The volleyball team wasn’t the only women’s program at Utah State to have major success in 2022.
The USU women’s gymnastics program, under the leadership of then-coach Amy Smith, won its first ever Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference championship.
The Aggies posted a season-high score in the quad meet against Boise State, BYU and Southern Utah, and as a result claimed the program’s sixth overall conference title, the first since 2005 when the Aggies were in the Western Gymnastics Conference.
“I’m speechless,” Smith said following the Aggies’ title-winning performance. “The coaches have known what this team has been capable of all year, and to put it together tonight is so incredibly special. I don’t even have words to describe how proud, how happy and just how relieved that they were able to do this for them, to realize the potential that they could get to.”
Utah State didn’t slow down from there. The Aggies went to the Norman Regional and turned in their best ever postseason performance, recording the highest score in program history in an NCAA regional meet.
The 196.825 score ranks as the third-best score all-time in program history and kept USU competitive with Big Ten and Pac-12 powers in Minnesota and Cal, even if the Aggies’ season came to an end.
5) Football takes a big step back, rallies to make a bowl
Coming off a program-first MW championship in 2021, expectations were high for Utah State football entering the 2022 campaign.
Things did not start out well though. The Aggies suffered through a dismal start to the season, losing four of their first five games, including a blowout loss at home to Weber State.
Multiple key players were lost for the season along the way — including record-breaking quarterback Logan Bonner.
It was enough that after the loss to the Wildcats, USU head coach Blake Anderson conceded the Aggies were not a good football team.
“Right now we are searching for ourselves, we are searching for consistency and we are searching for leadership,” Anderson said. “You name it, we are searching for it. There are a million things we need to work on. We are not a very good football team.”
Utah State went on to lose four more games after the loss to Weber State, but also won five games, turning their season around in remarkable fashion and securing a berth in the ServePro First Responder Bowl, where they fell to Memphis in lopsided fashion.
“It is an amazing feeling,” defensive tackle Hale Motu’apuaka said following USU’s bowl clinching win over San Jose State. “I know all of us boys and the coaches are just so happy. It shows our resilience. A lot of people, when you are 1-4 and not doing too well, when you lose to Weber (State) the way we did, people might drop their gloves, but we never gave up. We were confident in what we were capable of doing. We just put our heads down and now we are here.”
6) Cooper Legas takes over as USU’s starting quarterback
No player singlehandedly helped Utah State football turn its season around, but junior quarterback Cooper Legas played a significant role.
Legas took over as the Aggies’ starting quarterback after Bonner was ruled out for the season following a foot injury suffered late in USU’s loss at home to UNLV on Sept. 24.
Legas would go on to start seven of the remaining eight games of the season (he didn’t play against Wyoming after suffering a concussion early in the win over Colorado State) and the Aggies were victorious in five of them, the only losses coming against BYU and Boise State.
Legas finished the regular season with 1,465 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while adding 278 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
His presence on the field dramatically changed the Aggies offense — his running ability in particular — and by the end of the year USU had a solid offense.
“(Legas’ mobility) opens things up,” Anderson said following USU’s victory over Air Force on Oct. 8. “It definitely does. When you think back to last year, in some of the big wins that we had, Logan (Bonner) was able to do that a few times. He doesn’t look like (Legas) running, but he was able to extend plays and move the chains.
“We just didn’t have the ability to do that with (Bonner) being a little bit limited on his mobility (this year).”
7) Steven Ashworth becomes ‘Splashworth’
Speaking of individual athletes who broke out this year, much to the benefit of their teams, Utah State guard Steven Ashworth’s leap forward in the early parts of the current season can’t be overlooked.
The Lone Peak High product was a solid contributor for the Aggies during his first two seasons in Logan, but he has taken his play to another level this year.
Ashworth has been the Aggies’ best player — Taylor Funk and Max Shulga deserve mention too — and is averaging 17.4 points per game, while shooting an impressive 52.6% from 3-point range.
Ashworth currently ranks No. 4 in the country in 3-point percentage, has made the third most 3’s, while tying at 29th for most 3-pointers attempted.
That precision from deep is why Ashworth now owns the fan-loved moniker of “Splashworth,” an ode to Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, the best 3-point shooter in NBA history.
8) Utah State football deals with off-the-field heartbreak and controversy
USU football had its share of challenges on the football field in 2022, but there were also plenty of difficulties off the gridiron.
In March, USU announced that Anderson’s son Cason, age 21, had died. The cause of death was later revealed to be suicide.
Cason Anderson’s death hung over the Aggie program, weighing heavily on all.
“Our lives forever changed that morning,” Anderson said. “A piece of me and a piece of our family’s gone and it will never come back. Questions are all we were left with. Why didn’t I see it? How could I have helped more? What could I have done?”
In response to the tragedy, USU football promoted mental health awareness during the season, notably in the week leading up to the game against UNLV.
“There are people around you that want to help you,” Anderson said in a video released to kick off the initiative. “There are people that God has put in your life that want to carry your burden. They would much rather carry your burden than carry your coffin. Mental health matters. I encourage you, if you or someone you know is hurting, step up, speak out and do everything you can to help them find the resources they need. Staying silent is too costly.”
The football team, Anderson in particular, dealt with controversy too, when former USU player Patrick Maddox filed a complaint in federal court, alleging retaliation by teammates and coaches after he made and distributed recordings of team meetings.
According to court documents, the recordings “highlighted the problematic manner in which USU handles conversations about sexual harassment and assault.”
The complaint itself states, “The reaction of the football team and coaches following the leaked recordings emphasizes the toxic nature that exists in USU athletics, and USU’s continuing deliberate indifference to a known and obvious risk of sexual assault,” and names the university, Anderson and 10 John and Jane Does as defendants.
Given ongoing litigation, USU’s response to the complaint was and remains muted, though Anderson did address it on Twitter.
“I care deeply about Patrick Maddox, as I do all of our players,” he wrote. “Before and after the incidents at issue in this lawsuit, I supported Patrick as a player and in his goals for the future. I wish him nothing but the best.”
9) Utah State soccer takes part in an epic penalty shootout
USU’s women’s soccer team was solid in 2022. The Aggies went 8-5-8 (5-3-3 in conference play), finished fourth overall in the MW and advanced to the conference tournament.
All this in just the second year under head coach Manny Martins.
Things are trending up for women’s soccer at USU, but what was especially notable for the program in 2022 was what happened in the Aggies’ first-round matchup against San Diego State in the conference tourney.
Utah State lost the game, but the Aggies and Aztecs took part in a truly epic penalty shootout, after battling through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer.
The shootout went 22 rounds, with SDSU advancing 19-18. The two teams combined for 44 penalties, 37 of them found the back of the net.
USU made 14 sudden-death penalties in the shootout, prolonging the affair again, though the Aggies went 0-for-3 on penalties that would have ended the game. USU goalkeeper Diera Walton also made three saves.
It was a first for all involved.
“I’ve been around the game for as long as I can remember and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Martins told the Herald Journal. “I was actually talking to some Mountain West officials (and) they were doing some digging and working with the NCAA, and they couldn’t find a women’s game that’s gone that long. So, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, but that may have been a world record for a women’s game for penalty kicks.”
10) Amy Smith leaves for Clemson, along with half of the gymnastics team
Fresh off winning Utah State’s first MRGC championship, coach Smith and USU gymnastics were riding high.
The Aggies were the highest ranked non-Power Five squad at the end of the year, and most of the team was expected to return for the 2023 season.
Only that isn’t what happened.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2022 season, Smith was named the new head coach at Clemson, tasked with leading a brand new Power Five program.
It was a blow for USU, made more significant less than a month later when it was announced that six Aggies gymnasts were following Smith to South Carolina, including freshman All-American Brie Clark and MRGC all-around champion Rebecca Wells.
The Aggies moved quickly, naming ASU assistant coach Kristin White the new head coach of the gymnastics program.
“The Aggies are coming off a historic season and it was very clear from the moment I stepped on campus that the administration is committed to excellence,” White said when announced. “Our student-athlete experience will be at the forefront of the program, and I look forward to getting to Logan and empowering our young women to success in the classroom and on the competition floor.”
