Utah State University - Athletics

Athletics

USU's sports teams are known as the Aggies and are a part of the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference (WAC). They will join the Mountain West Conference in 2013. The university sponsors football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, softball, women's soccer, track and field, golf, tennis, cross country, and gymnastics. An array of club sports exist as well, and among them, the hockey and baseball teams are particularly popular with students.

The crown jewel of Aggie athletics has long been the men's basketball team, which plays in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, which has been called one of the nation's top 5 loudest and most difficult places for opposing teams to play. ESPN has also named USU's student section among the smartest in the nation. During the 2008–09 season, USU's ranking in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll rose as high as #17. USU basketball is 157–12 at home during the Stew Morrill era, has received 6 NCAA Tournament berths in the last ten years, and has amassed more wins than any team in the nation except Duke, Kansas, and Gonzaga during that time.

After many years of futility in football, USU has risen to new heights under head coach Gary Andersen, ending the 2012 regular season with its USU's first-ever 10-win season, its first WAC championship, and nationwide Top 25 rankings in all three major polls.

In addition to Andersen's hiring, the football program's renaissance can be attributed in part to a recent emphasis, under Athletics Director Scott Barnes, on recruiting, TV coverage, fundraising, facilities upgrades, and internal reorganization, despite the athletics department's dismal budget in comparison with other state and WAC schools. In recognition of these efforts, USU Athletics was crowned the 2009 National Champion of the Excellence in Management Cup, which seeks to identify the university that wins the most championships with the lowest expenses.

The Aggies have been members of the WAC since 2005 and have won several conference championships in that time, including men's basketball in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, football in 2012, indoor track in 2008, outdoor track in 2007 and 2009, and cross country for numerous years. Women's cross country has also won WAC championships in 2006 and 2008, and women's soccer won in 2008. Utah State has won numerous conference championships in previous conferences. National championships include women's volleyball in 1978 and softball in 1980 and 1981.