OPINION: Coach A is here to stay
It has been a long and all-things eventful week of happenings in the world of Aggie athletics – some bad, a whole lot more for good and quite honestly, a whole lot that leave us questioning.
It is weeks like this that can leave a columnist all kinds of flustered. No matter what you hear through the grapevine, choosing a weekly topic isn’t the easiest of tasks. It takes prioritization, a mess of creativity and most importantly, a bushel of hope that you aren’t preaching to the choir. No matter how you swing it, you are always performing to a rough crowd.
So yes, I could discuss USU football soaring to their second bowl game appearance in as many years. I could talk about the speedily rising NFL draft stock of the likes of Chuck Jacobs, Bojay Filimoeatu, and most notably, recent interception-machine Will Davis. We could discuss all of the questions pertaining to both men’s and women’s basketball teams. Heck, we could outline the performance of concessions if we so felt the need.
My job, however, is to speak to the emotions and concerns of the fan base. With any hope and skill, I fulfill my job weekly of answering those questions and thoughts Aggie fans are clamoring abroad with, and right now the biggest question has been devastatingly loud.
Just where will Gary Andersen be coaching next year?
The Utah State University football program is potentially one win away from what may very well be considered the most successful season in the school’s history. This of course means new names and numbers decorating record books, newfound buzz around campus and all kinds of pandemonius anticipation for bigger things to come.
It also means bigger schools with fatter checkbooks are beginning to pay attention to a once-lowly program in Northern Utah and a coach who seems to have that team’s heart so founded, it leaves no question what the foundation of the team’s success is.
Worthy of concern? Possibly.
Worthy of panic? Not so fast.
The answer the riddle works like this: We are facing situations with our coach we simply aren’t used to.
To give perspective of this answer, allow me to give an example of another coach who traveled the same type of road.
In 1980 a head basketball coach was hired to what, at the time, was a lackluster basketball program. He spent a few years coaching a military team and as an assistant to a Midwest squad that found great success. He was hired on with great hesitancy and needed a few years to rebuild through begrudging seasons.
Before long, however, his team philosophy caught on. His team began winning, in droves even, and before long his squad became one of the most renowned programs in the nation.
That school is Duke University. The coach is Mike Krzyzewski.
Among similarities already noted, what is the biggest similarity between Andersen and Krzyzewski?
Because they know how to find success in an organization that just seems to milk it away from people, they tend to be in high demand. Krzyzewski most likely turns down two or three higher coaching offers per year. Sure, he could establish a bigger market and more money somewhere else, but his program had his back. He saw in that university a possibility to build something special – and four national titles later, he has done it.
I can’t make too many bold predictions, but Coach Andersen finds himself in that same boat. He has seen a former laughingstock of a program turn into something to scream about, and if he is smart, he won’t stop the train now.
The best thing we can do to prove this theory, however, is to be his biggest supporters and not his biggest speculators. It’s time we left usufans.com and cougarboard.com comment boards blank, spend less time posting articles claiming Andersen is “rumored” to be “in talks” with other schools and embrace the fact that he is “most definitely” doing his job “right here” at Utah State.
Andersen knows what he can accomplish. It is time now the fan base proves beyond doubt they want him here. Not that Aggie fans abroad haven’t shown their appreciation, but it is time everyone fully got on the bandwagon, and fully believe what Andersen has been saying all along: This is his school.
Now let’s thank him for claiming it.
– Steve Schwartzman is a senior studying communication. Got any comments? Let him know: steve.schwartzman@aggiemail.usu.edu.