Utah State has a vision of its athletic future

Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on Utah State University's athletic program. Today, USU Athletic Director Scott Barnes sizes up the state of Aggie athletics.

LOGAN — When it comes to collegiate conference affiliations past, present and future, Utah State University's motto might be summed up best by that old Stephen Stills rock 'n roll classic: Love the one you're with.

Indeed, while many USU fans can't help but wonder what might have been a year ago — when schools started playing musical chairs, the almighty domino effect impacted several leagues and the Aggies were mentioned among the candidates that might be invited to join the Mountain West Conference — Utah State's athletic hierarchy has taken a positive approach.

Instead of wishing and whining about what could have been, just love the one you're with.

So while the Aggies remain a member of the Western Athletic Conference for the foreseeable future, they're going to make the most of the situation and just try to be the best WAC school they can be. That means trying to get their football program over the hump (they haven't had a winning season since 1996), putting a championship-contending men's basketball team out on the court year in and year out, and continuing to be competitive in all other sports across the board.

"We were never offered a spot in the Mountain West," said Scott Barnes, now in his fourth year as Utah State's athletic director. "At the end of the day, we weren't in that mix, we just weren't, because of where football was at the time.

"What I think is lost in all this is when you go back and look at what our goal is, and what our vision statement is for football and other sports, it's about winning championships and graduating student-athletes at a high level. ... Building a football program that is a consistent winner is very important to our entire athletic enterprise.

"And I'll tell you this, when you're trying to get a program out of the ground and create that momentum and sustain excellence over a long period, we've got an unbelievable opportunity ahead of us to do that," he said. "We're not climbing over Boise State any more; we're not climbing over a top-5 program in the nation to do that.

"And I think that opportunity is what we've got to hang on to and focus on — let's be the best program in the WAC, and beyond that who knows where we go from there. Let's focus on winning championships in the league we're in, and we haven't done that yet in football."