JH has done an incredible job of hiring some outstanding coaches and with the exception of GA 2.0, which I don’t believe was his call, his hires have been home runs even in the non-revenue sports and yes, I think out WBB program will get it turned around. His hires have made me wonder why he’s been so successful and obviously there are a lot of factors. He has a great eye for talent and knows what he’s looking for in coaches. He seems to recognize a good “fit” when he sees it. However, I believe the biggest factor has been the university’s financial commitment to improve our sports programs. Both in facilities and salary. We are able to draw quality coaches to Logan because we are very competitive with like universities. CS more than doubled his salary coming to USU. Odom doubled his salary coming to USU. Brent Guy was making 250k per year in football and now our FB coach makes 1 million per year. It’s one thing to spot talent, it’s a whole lot harder to attract talent. It cannot be overstated that if we want to continue to draw quality coaches that we and big time donors need to keep donating to the university whatever we can. When the university is able to give a quality AD the resources necessary then that AD will make home run hires.

Good post.

When was the last time (if ever) we’ve hired a MBB coach who has won an NCAA tournament game as HC prior to coming here?

Our prior football hires have been assistants or lower division HCs. Blake Anderson has a 51-37 career record as a HC in a similar league.

Craig was obviously a great find. Hartwell was also pretty instrumental in Yost and Patterson coming here.

Odom and BA might not work out but they’re as well credentialed as any coaches we’ve hired for those jobs in a long long time if ever.

Odom and Anderson look to be good hires on paper but they have yet to play a game at USU. We could be singing a different tune in a couple of years. Ard has a complete rebuild with the WBB program, we wont know much for a couple of years there either.

Aggieiester wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:20 am

Odom and Anderson look to be good hires on paper but they have yet to play a game at USU. We could be singing a different tune in a couple of years. Ard has a complete rebuild with the WBB program, we wont know much for a couple of years there either.

AggieBlues wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:52 am

Aggieiester wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:20 am

Odom and Anderson look to be good hires on paper but they have yet to play a game at USU. We could be singing a different tune in a couple of years. Ard has a complete rebuild with the WBB program, we wont know much for a couple of years there either.

I don't think he is wrong, truthfully Craig Smith turned out to be a good hire, but other than that, a lot of it is unknown.

If we were to put Gary 2.0 on this, his track record isn't perfect. However, most (including me) give him a pass on that because he was forced into it and made a correction quickly rather than years down the road.

These hires will be evaluated 2-3 years down the road.

NowhereLandAggie wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:57 am

AggieBlues wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:52 am

Aggieiester wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:20 am

Odom and Anderson look to be good hires on paper but they have yet to play a game at USU. We could be singing a different tune in a couple of years. Ard has a complete rebuild with the WBB program, we wont know much for a couple of years there either.

I don't think he is wrong, truthfully Craig Smith turned out to be a good hire, but other than that, a lot of it is unknown.

If we were to put Gary 2.0 on this, his track record isn't perfect. However, most (including me) give him a pass on that because he was forced into it and made a correction quickly rather than years down the road.

These hires will be evaluated 2-3 years down the road.

Their win-loss record at USU isn’t really the point. The point is that we are attracting candidates that would never have considered us in the past. We are hiring winning coaches who have established success somewhere else. That wasn’t the case in the past. Are they going to win a national championship (I can only dream) but we are going to be competing at the top level of the MWC. To me, that’s a home run hire.

You have to give Hartwell credit for looking outside of the Utah "bubble" for coaching hires - for good or bad.

We have grown accustomed, in these parts, to look in the immediate vicinity when a coaching position opens up. We look at BYU or Utah assistant coaches or former coaches or former players from USU, BYU, or Utah. We look at raiding head coaches from Weber State or Southern Utah or Utah Valley, or whatever. Hartwell has had the courage to look bigger than that. He is not from the area and his vision and influence are not limited to the area. For better or for worse, he has expanded the influence of Utah State University to a more national level.

I'm glad the financial support has been there, and our coaches still have yet to prove that they were good hires. Craig was a great get and both Blake and Ryan look to be capable of keeping us atop the MWC and beyond. Don't kid yourself though, we could have made great hires at 250K a year and we could make terrible hires at triple our current coach salaries. Hartwell appears to be doing a great job and hopefully we will see some more benefits of having a great AD over the next few years.

What's impressed me most with Hartwell is his decisiveness and no-nonsense approach. If a coach is not getting it done, he takes action and doesn't wait around or prolong the inevitable. Case-in-point, forcing Wells to hire Yoast, canning GA 2.0 mid-season (until someone spills the beans, I'll assume this was solely based on performance), putting the Duryea regime out of its misery. None of these actions are easy but I applaud Hartwell for always doing what's best for the university and never using USU's natural disadvantages as excuses.

I hope Jerry Bovee absorbing everything he can from the maestro. Even though he'll never admit it, I'll bet JH does peruse this fan board from time to time for fun (just like Scotty G's surprise visit the other day). If you do read this Mr. Hartwell, thank you and keep kicking a*s!

Mr Hartwell is not only a terrific AD, but he is also an awesome person.
He has a deep and loving concern for the student athletes and the people he comes into contact with.
He is incredibly smart and is fun to be around. He's a straight shooter and you always know where you stand with him.
He is perfect for Utah State and the community.
With that said, we need to keep him. He is a hot commodity in the Athletic Community.
He has turned down several jobs to be here. But that won't last. Someone will come calling with a very attractive offer, and we need to be able to give him a reason to $tay.
7 conference championships from coaches he has hired at USU. An amazing student-athlete GPA and increased attendance in every sport.
That kind of resume gets noticed quickly.

Stewie Griffin wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 2:12 pm

Mr Hartwell is not only a terrific AD, but he is also an awesome person.
He has a deep and loving concern for the student athletes and the people he comes into contact with.
He is incredibly smart and is fun to be around. He's a straight shooter and you always know where you stand with him.
He is perfect for Utah State and the community.
With that said, we need to keep him. He is a hot commodity in the Athletic Community.
He has turned down several jobs to be here. But that won't last. Someone will come calling with a very attractive offer, and we need to be able to give him a reason to $tay.
7 conference championships from coaches he has hired at USU. An amazing student-athlete GPA and increased attendance in every sport.
That kind of resume gets noticed quickly.

JH is a good AD. The rest is debatable.

The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats

Aggieiester wrote: ↑

April 8th, 2021, 10:20 am

Odom and Anderson look to be good hires on paper but they have yet to play a game at USU. We could be singing a different tune in a couple of years. Ard has a complete rebuild with the WBB program, we wont know much for a couple of years there either.

There is a difference between a great hire and a coach who does a great job. Craig Smith was both. We got a proven coach from South Dakota who won a ton of games over 3 years at USU.

We don't know until the games are played how Odom will do, but it is a pretty good hire to go find a guy who is a proven winner and has the biggest first round upset in history on his resume. Just as we(thankfully) will never know what Conroy could have done at USU, but it would have been a pretty poor hire even if he theoretically won some games at USU.

Who the hell is Conroy?

troutputz wrote: ↑

April 9th, 2021, 6:54 pm

Who the hell is Conroy?

Hartwell's college buddy.

OrangeCountyAggie wrote:What's impressed me most with Hartwell is his decisiveness and no-nonsense approach. If a coach is not getting it done, he takes action and doesn't wait around or prolong the inevitable. Case-in-point, forcing Wells to hire Yoast, canning GA 2.0 mid-season (until someone spills the beans, I'll assume this was solely based on performance), putting the Duryea regime out of its misery. None of these actions are easy but I applaud Hartwell for always doing what's best for the university and never using USU's natural disadvantages as excuses.

I hope Jerry Bovee absorbing everything he can from the maestro. Even though he'll never admit it, I'll bet JH does peruse this fan board from time to time for fun (just like Scotty G's surprise visit the other day). If you do read this Mr. Hartwell, thank you and keep kicking a*s!

John has people report back to him about all this nonsense.


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Stewie Griffin wrote:The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats

Nevermind, I guess he did finally make an account.


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