LOGAN — The day before the Utah State men’s basketball team was slated to play at Boise State on Saturday, Jan. 10, in an effort to “bring this energy back” and fill up ExtraMile Arena, BSU announced on social media that “ANY and ALL students (college, high school, middle school, elementary school) get a FREE ticket in the Corral Student Section with a valid student ID.”
That quickly proved to be a bad idea.
Sensing an opportunity, leaders of USU’s raucous student section known as The HURD started to organize an Aggie invasion of Idaho’s capital city to take advantage of the free tickets and lend their support to Jerrod Calhoun’s squad. But as more and more cash started to flow in from donors for gas money to help USU students to make the four-hour drive, the higher-ups at Boise State — realizing that they were headed for a potential disaster — made a “clarification” Saturday morning that the offer for a free ticket required a “valid student ID from a school in IDAHO.”
Undaunted, The HURD soldiered on, and, buoyed by additional donations from Aggie fans and Calhoun and his coaching staff to help buy tickets, the group of 120-plus students took over an entire section in the upper deck of the Broncos’ home arena.
“That was awesome,” USU athletic director Cameron Walker said of the grassroots effort that raised $3,000 in 12 hours so The HURD could cheer on the Aggies during their 93-68 rout of the rival Broncos.
A native of Idaho, Walker also made the trip to Boise, donated $100 of his own money to the cause and posed for photos with members of The HURD who went the extra 300 miles to get to ExtraMile that night.
“That was exactly the type of energy we need, whether it’s home games or away games, that’s the type of energy we need,” Walker added. “I think The HURD is showing us that they’re all-in, and we need that same type of energy from the rest of the community and the rest of the fan base.
“And I think that’s part of Show Me.”
Wednesday morning, Walker and the USU athletics department unveiled the new Show Me initiative, which will focus on three revenue areas: ticket sales, philanthropic giving and scholarships.
In a press release, the undertaking is described as “an all-encompassing modernization effort that works alongside the Reach & Rise campaign with a strong emphasis on revenue generation and a goal of engaging Aggie Nation as the athletics department charges toward the Pac-12.
“… The athletics department is pushing itself to reach ambitious but attainable goals in each area, calling on its loyal fan base to continue its dedication and pride and help the Aggies not only compete in the Pac-12, but dominate.”
Utah State is leaving the Mountain West Conference this spring and moving into the reimagined Pac-12 on July 1. And Walker, who took over as athletic director on Oct. 6, has been trying to prepare for that moment ever since leaving his previous position of senior deputy director of athletics and chief strategy officer at Tennessee.
“That excites me; that energizes me,” Walker said of USU’s big move in five months. “These ambitious goals and going into a new conference with a high level of competition, all of those things really, really excite me. And candidly, that’s a huge part of the reason why I was really interested in this job.”
Walker’s predecessor, Diana Sabau, implemented the Reach & Rise capital campaign in June 2024 with the goal of raising $125 million over five years for Aggie athletics. That effort will continue, while “dovetailing” into the Show Me initiative and the goals Walker has set up for six months and 18 months down the road.
“The good thing about Show Me is it is not a fundraising campaign like Reach & Rise,” Walker clarifies. “Any contributions toward Reach & Rise will fit right inside this. It all counts for the same thing. These are not working against each other or replacing anything. Anyone who has made a pledge to Reach & Rise — that all counts.
“I would probably call Show Me a modernization initiative that’s really designed to engage our fan base in a broad way. So, whether you’re a donor, a business owner, or a general fan, there’s something that you can commit to to show us you’re an Aggie.”
The goals Walker aspires to reach by Aug. 1 include: 90 USU athletics sponsors (an increase of 10); 135 Blue A Society members (an increase of 35); 1,800 Big Blue Club members (an increase of 400); 8,000 football season-ticket holders (an increase of 1,200); back-to-back men’s basketball season-ticket sellouts for the first time ever; and $20 million in cash and pledges.
Show Me’s 18-month goals fall in those same areas: 125 sponsors; 200 Blue A members; 3,000 Big Blue members; 10,000 football season-ticket holders; a third straight year of men’s basketball season-ticket sellouts; and $42 million in class and pledges, including $20 million from the six-month goal.
While building the coffers of an athletic department has always been a focus of college ADs, the constant movement of student-athletes via the transfer portal and the stunning increase in NIL money over the past five years have further increased the need for outside financial support.
Walker, who spent nearly five years at Tennessee after spending the previous five at Central Florida, said he’s trying to adjust with the times while also anticipating the future.
“This is probably a little different than what we did at UT and at UCF, and really the impetus for this is twofold,” he explained. “One, we’re in a changing landscape where if we did something like a five- or 10-year plan, you’d have to redo it in like a year because the world just changes so fast. And the first major thing we need to prepare for is moving to the Pac-12, so we need to be ready for that in roughly six months.
“So, we set a bunch of six-month goals, but we also want to compete now that we’re in the Pac-12 and we knew that what we needed to get ready wasn’t going to be enough to sustain it. So, we broadened it, and said, ‘OK, let’s do one year after that.’
“That’s why there’s also 18-month goals to attack those things. But doing anything much more than like two years, in my mind, is just an exercise in futility or replanning because, at this point, because the world just changes so fast. I think we want to be more nimble and agile than that.”
Under Walker, the USU athletic department is also “reshaping its core values,” with Show Me also serving as an acronym: Service (support student-athletes and our community); Honor (do everything with integrity in mind, always); Ownership (own your part, lead your area); Winning (compete relentlessly for success in every moment); Momentum (build and sustain energy); Excellence (raise the standard every day).
Ultimately, Walker says the goal is to strengthen the USU fan base and increase Aggie pride as Utah State joins Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Texas State and Gonzaga (non-football sports) in the new Pac-12.
“I think the sky’s the limit about what we can do in the Pac-12, but I don’t think it’s going to be very much fun to be in the Pac-12 and just get our brains beat in,” Walker said with a chuckle. “I don’t see that happening, but I think we can really compete and be a leader in that new conference if we can get everybody on board and kind of pulling in the same direction.
“And so, this is really just an initiative to modernize and to help us sprint towards that beginning.”
