Leah Dunagan: There for USU Men’s Basketball

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Utah State Men’s Basketball players get hurt, Leah Dunagan is there to help. She’s the team’s athletic trainer and manages everything from in–game injuries to pre and post–game treatments for the athletes.

She has come to the rescue with head injuries and bloody lacerations on the court. Dunagan is the calming presence when things have gone terribly wrong.

“In order for the athlete to stay calm, you have to stay calm because if I panic, then they’re going to panic and so keeping calm keeps them calm,” Dunagan said. “You’re kind of taught how to manage emergency crisis in school… granted, you don’t really know how you’re going to react until it happens, but adrenaline kind of kicks.”

On top of that, she’s excelling in a male–dominated industry. Dunagan is one of four athletic trainers that work on a men’s basketball team that made the NCAA Tournament, per an email she received. She called that fact “pretty crazy.”

“It’s crazy cause I never thought that I would have worked with a men’s basketball team,” Dunagan said. “It was never an aspiration of mine, but now that I have done this it’s — I don’t think that I would want to work another sport.”

But even though she supports a male team with a primarily male coaching and support staff, she “holds her ground,” guard Sean Bairstow said.

“Everyone respects her and likes her a lot, and she fits in really well,” Bairstow said. “Really, really loved, and everyone’s happy to have her.”

Utah State Men’s Basketball poses for a photo during their shootaround Wednesday in Sacramento for the NCAA Tournament. (Photo by Phil Weber.)

Working in a male-dominated industry is something Dunagan knew she would have to do as an athletic trainer.

“You know, you just got to stand your ground,” Dunagan said. “There’s really no intimidation factor really at all. The profession and athletic training is also pretty male dominant, and so it kind of comes with the territory.”

Originally, Dunagan came to Utah State to support the gymnastics team. After working with them for three years and then the softball team for two years she was promoted to men’s basketball.

Now she’s well known for the fact that she assists a seven–footer in center Trevin Dorius.

“Everybody gets obviously a laugh out of it,” Dunagan said. “I’ll either tell him to take a seat or I’ll stand on something or whatnot, but we all make jokes about it.”

Dunagan also has to be prepared for anything and everything, such as when Bairstow suffered a finger injury that took him out of the game during the 2021–22 season. Dunagan helped him recover from that as well as a wrist injury.

“I feel like the main thing is just like the effort that she puts forward,” Bairstow said. “She’s there so many hours of the day and has so many different availabilities… and the care factor that she has for us.”

Rehabbing an athlete isn’t always easy. Dunagan said sometimes it takes a bit for the player to buy into the rehab process but they usually change their tune when they see results.

“But once that buy–in is in and they see the process work then they’re usually completely bought in,” Dunagan said.

At the end of the day, win or loss, Dunagan knows she’s helped her student–athletes.

“It is incredibly rewarding,” Dunagan said. “It’s nice to see an athlete go from — obviously it‘s not nice to see the athlete they get injured — but when they are injured and watching them go through the whole recovery process and rehab process and getting backed to on the court, it’s incredible.”

She added that it has been “an honor to be able to work” with this year’s Aggie basketball team.

“Never doubted any of their hard work whatsoever,” Dunagan said. “They have never swayed in any kind of way. Their attitude has always been to keep pushing. They never looked back, so they knew that they were a tournament team and so did all of the support staff, the coaching staff, everybody. And to see all the hard work that they put forth to see it payoff has been incredible.”

And for other women that aspire to become athletic trainers, Dunagan says “to follow your dreams.”

“It is an incredibly rewarding profession,” Dunagan said. “Stick to your guns. It’s a lot of fun.”