Brad Rock: Coach Gary Andersen and Utah State ace the season

Historically, timing has been crucial in Logan. So Bruce Snyder (Cal), Charlie Weatherbie (Navy), and John L. Smith (Louisville) moved on while Chris Pella, Chuck Shelton, Dave Arslanian, Mick Dennehy and Brent Guy hung on long enough to get axed.

Pragmatically speaking, Andersen should move, too. With the arms race building in college football, it's hard to imagine USU competing forever for his talents. At the same time, recruiting and fundraising are on the rise. Another fine year and Andersen might even match Stew Morrill, the Aggie basketball coach whose contract extensions run until he's approximately 90. Andersen grew up in Utah and has spent his entire coaching career here. Money matters, but so do roots.

This fall he signed his own extension that would take him through the 2018 season, though buyouts are always possible.

Still, he binds to his teams in a way few coaches do.

To borrow his own phrase, he's a tremendous players' coach.

He has certainly bought himself some time. Guy lasted four years, yet only won nine games.

But coaching carousel talk seemed tangential, following the win over Idaho. It was time to celebrate. Fans pushed onto the field chanting "Gary! Gary!" to which he replied by grabbing the microphone and chanting "Aggies! Aggies!"

By the end of the day, the biggest worry in Logan wasn't whether the Aggies would go bowling, or even whether Andersen would leave. Those seemed to have been answered. Rather, it was how to get that "A" on Old Main changed to an A-plus.

Email: rock@desnews.com

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