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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Andersen expects to compete with big boys in WAC
By ROY BURTONLOGAN -- Parked outside the auditorium where Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen was being introduced as Utah State's new football coach Thursday was a vehicle with a blue-and-white USU sticker placed carefully over a U of U license plate.
Inside, Andersen was putting on a navy blue cap.
When he woke up that morning as the head coach of the Aggies, Andersen told the gathered media and boosters he learned one thing: "I think I look pretty dang good in blue."
Utah State hasn't had a winning season since 1996, and just two since 1981, but Andersen believes his Aggies can put the pieces in place to compete in the Western Athletic Conference.
"There's a major commitment here to not be a good football program (but to) be a great football program," Andersen said. "That's why I wanted to be a part of it, period. My beliefs, everything I stand for in college football, this university has it."
Andersen, 44, agreed to a five-year deal with a base salary of $350,000, plus up to $30,000 in incentives, USU athletics director Scott Barnes said. He currently has a letter of agreement with Utah State; the finalized contract should be signed within a few weeks.
Barnes said Andersen "won the interview" with his detailed plan for the future of USU football.
"First impressions mean a lot," Barnes said of that meeting. "His energy and demeanor are contagious. We always start with leadership and integrity and he has that as a baseline, but when I said he won the interview, he won it because not only does he have a plan and a vision that fits our needs now, but the way he articulated that, the specific detail."
Albrecht said Andersen's preparation sold them on his plan.
"As importantly as anything, he brought a vision of 'Why not us? Why not now?'" Albrecht said -- a belief that Aggie pride can be restored.
Andersen has a confluence of advantages no other coach in Utah State's history has had on his hiring day: more money to pay his coordinators and assistants, better facilities with the Romney Stadium renovations and the recently completed Laub Athletics-Academics Complex, and conference affiliation with the WAC.
His first priority now is meeting with the players currently in the program before they leave for the Christmas break, Andersen said. Next is recruiting, starting with competing in-state against BYU and Utah.
"We will focus in the state of Utah, number one. That's not lip-service, that's a promise," Andersen said. "We will go against whoever we've got to go against -- whether they're the other blue team, the other red team, I don't care. We're going to go head to head with them."
Andersen, named Rivals.com's No. 1 non-BCS recruiter in the country in 2005, vowed to work returned LDS missionaries into his system and bring Polynesian players to USU.
Andersen is taking aim at the WAC's top performers, too.
"No one will outwork us, no one will out-tough us and no one will out-prepare us, I promise you that," he said. "There's a major commitment here to win football games, it's my job to walk in here and win football games and we will win football games. Our goal from the very beginning is to take on the cream of the crop in the WAC. Who is that? It's Boise State -- here we come."
Andersen is one of five finalists for the 2008 Broyles Award, to be given to the nation's top assistant coach Dec. 9 in Little Rock, Ark.
Utah State will run a spread offense under Coach A.
"Offensive football is about creating mismatches on the field," Andersen said.
Andersen will meet with Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on Friday to discuss whether or not he will be the Utes' defensive coordinator in the BCS bowl game.
They will also likely discuss which current Utah assistants may come with Andersen. Receivers coach Aaron Roderick and inside linebackers coach Kalani Sitake are at the center of speculation. They could become Andersen's offensive and defensive coordinator.
Andersen said he had not decided if he will act as his own defensive coordinator.
Linebacker Jake Hutton, who has learned he will get a medical exemption from the NCAA to return for another season, said Andersen met with a group of players before his hiring.
Hutton said he welcomed the high expectations and didn't want a coach to come in and say he'd try to get the Aggies to 6-6.
"We were asking him the possibility of coming here the other day and he said, 'If I think we can beat Boise State, then I'll come,'" Hutton said. "Obviously, he does think that. I'm excited. I think you should shoot for the top."
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