Cracking the coaching code: Recruiting coaches across USU campuses

Recruiting coaches for both Utah State University’s Logan and Eastern campuses are similar and different in their own way.  

Head women’s basketball coach Kayla Ard was dismissed on March 10, following the Utah State’s women’s basketball team’s loss to Boise State on March 10 in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament.  

Just over a week later, the search for a new head men’s basketball coach began Monday, March 25, after head coach Danny Sprinkle announced he would take the head coach position at Washington University.  

Prior to Sprinkle’s announcement of his departure, athletic director Diana Sabau already developed a long and short list of candidates because, as an institution, they needed to be ready for the possibility of Sprinkle’s leaving.   

“Because of Danny’s great success, we needed to be ready if and when that process happened.” Sabau said.  

Danielle Jensen, assistant athletic director and head women’s volleyball coach shared some insight into their hiring process.   

“Our department is different in that we do not keep or fire coaches based strictly on wins and losses. We generally do not look for new coaches until a coach has expressed interest in leaving or after a coach is done with the department,” said Jensen.  

During the process of recruiting coaches, Sabau reached out to agents and coaches on her short list to determine who had an interest in our institution. 

The athletic department considers many aspects of their prospective coaches. Who has a buyout on their contracts? Who has interests coaching in the Mountain West and growing USU’s current roster?  

One of the most important factors for Sabau was the roster of student-athletes after Sprinkle’s exit.  

“For me at Utah State and our athletics department, it was really a priority that we retained our locker room and tried to keep as many of our current student athletes on the men’s roster as possible,” Sabau said.  

And while there are many statistics, graphs and numbers the committee can look at, there is a certain skill to recruiting according to Sabau.  

“It is sometimes more of an art than a science, and everybody probably has their own way of approaching it.” Sabau said.  

Similarly, USU Eastern’s Athletic Department considers many things when hiring a new coach.  

“Our first step is to look over all the applicants and narrow it down based on what we are seeing in their resumes. We will look and see who meets the qualifications and go from there. The second step to the process is a Zoom call with the committee and the applicant.” Jensen said. “The third and final part of the process, we bring applicants to campus to go through several more in-person interviews, then give a presentation and tour the campus. After this part of the process, the committee then meets to make a selection and hire a coach.” 

The Logan campus’ athletic department assesses the applicants in a variety of ways. 

“I used a search firm to vet and do extensive background checks and make sure no one we were interested in had anything that would be embarrassing to the institution or anything from past performance that would be of concern or not fit with our culture or values,” Sabau said.  

When looking for a candidate who fit a profile of Utah State, Sabau said she was looking for someone that has a style fit for the Mountain West: a very fast, offensive and up-tempo pace that would bring success, along with the commitment to build a program here.  

“Who could be the next coach here, that wouldn’t necessarily, even with success, leave quickly?” Sabau said. “I would much rather renegotiate a contract for success rather than always having to find a new coach every year.”  

The athletic department was looking for someone for both the men’s and women’s program that, holistically, had the highest character.  

“Someone who is passionate, someone who has a lot of energy, someone that could be a young modern coach or have philosophies that could resonate with our student athletes. Someone who is adaptable and nimble,” Sabau said. “We really need good teachers. The best teachers produce the best teams. A coach is truly just a teacher of young people.” 

To help with the decision process, Sabau put together an interview committee of faculty athletics representatives, head coach, director of compliance, sport administrator and herself.  

After they interviewed the top five candidates for both the women’s and men’s coach, they decided that two of them had risen to the top of the group that were brought to campus for on-campus interviews.  

“We had some members of our men’s basketball team meet with those two people and some members of the women’s team meet with the two people for the women’s team as well.”  

Both positions were filled quickly.  

The search for a men’s coach started on Monday, March 25, and ended with an offer on Friday, March 29. On Saturday, March 30, former head coach at Youngstown University Jerrod Calhoun was named head men’s basketball coach at Utah State.  

Two days later, on Monday, April 1, former assistant coach at Ohio State University Wesley Brooks was named head women’s basketball coach.  

Sabau had previously worked as senior deputy athletics director at Ohio State, where both Calhoun and Brooks previously coached.  

“Ironically, I did not know either of them while I was at Ohio State. At the time, I was already the deputy commissioner at the Big Ten Conference,” Sabau said.  

Sabau used her connections from her former job to help make decisions in her current job.  

“I do believe a lot of the people that have helped me in my career and I rely on and have given me good information throughout my career are in Ohio,” Sabau said. “I respect Kevin McGough, the head coach of the women’s program at Ohio State. He’s had a period of longevity there and has been extremely successful there, and I knew someone from his system would be a good investment and would be a great head coach.”