The Utah State Aggies are the athletics teams of Utah State University. Recently, the men's basketball team, under coach Stew Morrill, has become known as a nationally respected program, with several trips to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. USU's men's basketball program has been one of the winningest programs in the country since 2000 [1], winning at least 23 games in each season and appearing in the NCAA tournament numerous times. The football program, which has a rich history (Merlin Olsen an alumnus), has struggled lately, following an ill-fated two-year stint as an independent program and two more years in the geographically distant Sun Belt Conference. Following the decision of the Big West Conference to stop sponsoring football in 2001, USU's other teams remained in that conference until the school was finally invited to join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2005. USU had hoped to gain entrance into the WAC for decades prior to 2005.

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Football

The Aggies first game in history was a 12–0 win over future rival Utah. ^[2] It was their only game that year and they did not field a team again until 1896. Overall, the Aggies have a record of 479–485–31 (.497) in their history. ^[3]

The Aggies are currently coached by Gary Andersen who replaced Brent Guy after the 2008 season. Andersen was previously the defensive coordinator at the University of Utah, and a part of the 2008 Utes team that went undefeated and won a BCS bowl victory in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

The Aggies have played in five bowl games, in which they have gone 1–4. Most recently, in 1997, the team lost to Cincinnati in the Humanitarian Bowl. In 1993, the team earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl, where they defeated Ball State for their first bowl victory. ^[4]

Conference championships

The Aggies have won eleven conference championships in their history, most recently the Big West Conference championships in 1996 and 1997. ^[5]

Conference	Year	Coach
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	1921	Dick Romney
	1935*	Dick Romney
	1936	Dick Romney
Big Seven Conference	1946*	Dick Romney
Skyline Conference	1960*	John Ralston
	1961*	John Ralston
Big West Conference	1978*	Bruce Snyder
	1979	Bruce Snyder
	1993*	Charlie Weatherbie
	1996*	John L. Smith
	1997*	John L. Smith
* Denotes shared championship

Notable former players

• OG – Jim Hough (1974–1977)... 2nd team AP All-America (1977), 9 years in NFL.
• OT – Len Rohde (1957–1959)... Two-time all-Skyline Eight, 15-year NFL career.
• WR – Tom Forzani (1970–1972)... Was USU receiving leader at end of his career.
• WR – Kevin Curtis (2001–2002)... All-American 3rd Team (2001), USU receptions leader at end of his career. Currently plays for the Philidelphia Eagles.
• TE – Chris Cooley (2000–2003)... Led NCAA in TE receptions as a senior, NFL Pro Bowl (2007). Currently plays for the Washington Redskins.
• RB - Roger Robinson (2000-2002)... Played for the Arizona Cardinals and as the featured Running back of the 2006 World Bowl champions Frankfurt Galaxy.
• QB – Eric Hipple (1976–1979)... All-Pacific Coast/10-year NFL career.
• QB – Anthony Calvillo (1992–1993)... Team record 5 TD passes in one game, 15-year CFL career.
• DL – Merlin Olsen (1959–1961)... Two-time All-American/Outland Trophy(1961), 15-time NFL All-Pro.
• DL – Rulon Jones (1976–1979)... First-team All-American (1979), 1986 AFC Defensive Player of the Year.
• DL – Lionel Aldridge (1960–1962)... Hon. Men. All-American (1962), NFL 11 years with two Super Bowls.
• DL – Greg Kragen (1980–1983)... One Pro Bowl, three Super Bowls in NFL
• DL – Phil Olsen (1967–1969)... Consensus All-American (1969), HM All-America (1968)/first round draft pick/ 9 NFL seasons
• LB – Al Smith (1984–1986)... BWC Defensive Player of the Year (1986), Two-time honorable mention All-America
• LB – LaVell Edwards (1949–1951)... All-Mountain States (1950), College Hall of Fame football coach with BYU.
• DB – Donnie Henderson (1978–1979)... All-Big West, NFL assistant coach.

Men's basketball

In recent times, the men's basketball team has won invitations to the NCAA tournament in 1998 (under coach Larry Eustachy), 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009 (all under Morrill). Prior to 2006, all of these invitations were a result of winning the Big West Conference tournament. In 2006, the Aggies received an at-large bid to the tournament, after finishing second place in their first season in the Western Athletic Conference and losing in overtime of the WAC tournament championship game to Nevada-Reno. Despite a stellar season in 2003–2004 and a national top-25 ranking toward the end of the season, the Aggies did not receive an at-large tournament bid after being upset in the conference tournament. This decision earned the derision of head coach Morrill, as the Aggies held a 25-3 record and were nationally ranked in the top-25. In 2009, USU won the WAC tournament championship game beating Nevada-Reno in Reno. The team went on to lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Marquette. The most recent NCAA Tournament success was a first-round upset over fifth-seeded Ohio State University in the 2001 NCAA Basketball Tournament ^[6]. Other men's sports the Aggies compete in include Track and Field, Golf, Tennis, and Cross Country.

Notable former players

• F – Wayne Estes (1963–1965) 1st Team AP All American (1965).
• G – Jaycee Carroll (2004–2008) All-Time Leading Scorer.
• G – Kevin Rice (1996–1998) Second All-Time Leading Scorer In Dakota Wizards History.

list1 = Campbell • Walker • Teetzel • Jensen • Romney • Burnett • Young • Lee • Whitesides • Baker • Andersen • Plain • Belnap • Tueller • Smith • Eustachy • Morrill

Women's sports

Of women's sports at USU, gymnastics has probably been most successful, heading to the post season 26 times including five trips to the national championships ^[7]. The school also sponsors women's softball, volleyball, track and field, soccer, tennis, and basketball. Women's basketball returned in 2003 after a fifteen-year absence. At the time, USU was the only Division I program that did not have a women's basketball program besides the mostly male Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel. ^[8] The women's team has not yet produced a winning season. In 1978 the women's volleyball team won the AIAW national championship, defeating UCLA in the final match. In 1980 and 1981, the women's softball team won the Division I AIAW national championships.

Facilities

The most used sports venue is the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics events are held. TV and radio announcers visiting the Spectrum for the first time commonly state that the spectrum is one of the loudest basketball venues in the country with one of the most enthuastic crowds in the country, rivaling Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University. It is a tradition that near the beginning of games the crowd chooses one player from the other team who commits a blatant foul, taunts the crowd, etc and every time that player touches the ball the entire crowd boos loudly until he passes the ball. This pressure on opposing players created by this tradition has cut many outstanding players down to below average players while at the Spectrum.

The football team plays in Romney Stadium, slightly north and west of the main campus. The stadium had natural grass until 2004, when artificial turf was installed.

As of the 2008–2009 season, the Aggies compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

On February 4, 2008 Utah State University Athletic Director Randy Spetman was named the new AD for Florida State University. He had been serving as Athletics Director at Utah State since 2004. ^[9]

Fight songs

Fight Song

The Aggies' fight song is known simply as Fight Song :


Hail the Utah Aggies
We'll play the game
With all our might
See the colors flying
The Aggie blue
And fighting white
How they stir us onward
We'll win the victory all right,
Hail the Utah Aggies
We're out to win
So fight, fight, fight!


(Chant) Utah State, hey
Aggies all the way
Go Aggies
Go Aggies
Hey, hey, hey | ^[10]

The Scotsman

The popular Scotsman , which is usually sung after the fight song:


Show me a Scotsman who doesn't love the thistle.
Show me an Englishman who doesn't love the rose.
Show me the true blooded Aggie from Utah
Who doesn't love the spot . . .
Where the sagebrush grows! ^[11]

References

1. Best College Basketball Teams
2. cfbdatawarehousse.com
3. cfbdatawarehousse.com
4. cfbdatawarehouse.com
5. cfbdatawarehouse.com
6. Utah St. 77, Ohio St. 68
7. Longtime Utah State Gymnastics Coach Ray Corn Retire
8. Rebuilding Utah State program, step by small step, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/bigwest/2002-10-16-cover-utah-state_x.htm
9. Randy Spetman Named Athletics Director At Florida State, http://utahstateaggies.cstv.com/genrel/020408aaa.html
10. utahstateaggies.com
11. The Scotsman