Crunching the Questions with Diana Sabau, USU Athletes
The Utah State University Division of Student Affairs and the Logan Vice President Committee hosted “Crunching the Questions,” an event with Utah State Athletics Director Diana Sabau and a panel of Aggie student-athletes from various sports. The event was held in the TSC Evan N. Stevenson Ballroom on April 17 and was open to students and the community.
Prior to the event, students submitted questions for both the athletes and for Sabau to answer as a part of the question-and-answer format of the evening. The athletes in attendance were Magdalena Nunez Pureco from Women’s Tennis; Megumi Ludlow and Emma Thornley from Cross Country; Dani Kirstine, Lundyn VanderToolen and Avery Bibbey from Women’s Gymnastics and Robert Freeman IV from Football.
The panel of student-athletes took the stage for the first half of the event. The athletes answered questions the moderators selected from student submissions. The questions ranged from favorite moments at Utah State, life as a student-athlete, difficulties of being a student-athlete and advice to their younger selves.
“My favorite moments would be when I watched my teammates succeed,” Ludlow said. “It makes me really proud and makes me really happy that I’ve been given the opportunity to be here and be able to know these people who do these amazing things.”
Thornley added her favorite moments at USU.
“The worst part is also the best part, and it’s just putting your whole heart into it. It’s really hard because if you want something so bad, and you’re so ambitious towards it that you work so hard for it for so long, and then if you don’t achieve it, it really hurts a lot,” Thornley said. “It’s so worth it, even if you don’t achieve it, because you’re so much better because of that.”
Pureco emphasized the importance of living in the moment.
“I would tell myself to enjoy every single moment here, every single game, because time goes by so fast,” Pureco said. “I was very scared as far as coming from Mexico to a whole new country where I didn’t know anybody. My family is in Mexico, and I barely see them, but I created a whole new family here, and I just love the community here. So, everything is worth it.”
Many athletes highlighted their experiences competing and winning Mountain West championships at USU as part of their favorite experiences.
After the student-athlete portion of the event, Sabau took the stage to answer questions previously prepared and several questions from the audience. The questions centered around a typical day in the life, plans for the upcoming year, her path to USU and how students can get more involved in athletics.
“We’re really trying to future-proof our athletics department at Utah State as we integrate into the Pac-12, which will be full of amazing opportunities for our university to really be center-focused on television in national competitions,” Sabau said. “When I’m not here in Logan, I’m traveling and just asking people to be most intimately involved with the brand they love the most, which is Utah State. Whether they were a student-athlete or they were a student that attended here, we want to make sure that their passion resonates back here in Logan, and they can do that through financial fulfillment.”
For students looking to get their foot in the door working in athletics, Sabau had a simple message.
“Come to our athletic department administrative offices — second floor of the Spectrum — and be an intern,” Sabau said. “There’s a ton of opportunities. When you’re here on campus, if you don’t squeeze every day to the fullest, you’re cheating yourself out of what could be your future … I want to make sure that not just our student-athletes have remarkable experiences but all of you as well.”
After Sabau answered submitted questions, she took questions from the students in attendance. These were focused on Pac-12 integration and the intricacies of USU Athletics such as NIL and coach hiring and retainment.
“When I was first hired here, the former president and I had a lot of discussions about what the future of Utah State was, and I learned very quickly that Utah State had been left out a lot of times in the history of Utah State whenever there was an athletics conference realignment,” Sabau said. “Right away, I knew we’re going to have to be aggressive, and we’re really going to have to be ahead of the pack with it.”
According to Sabau, she pushed back on the first Pac-12 offer to ensure equality between USU and the other colleges.
“Women’s Soccer will be phasing that grandstands, ticket booth, concessions, merchandise — so you’ll see that develop into a total stadium over time,” Sabau said. “We’re renovating our indoor facility. All of our women’s sports are behind in their facilities.”
The Logan VP Committee indicated similar events will be ongoing in the future, giving students and community members an opportunity to interact with Utah State athletes and the athletic department.