March 7, 2008

LOGAN, Utah -

Comments From Utah State University President Stan Albrecht

Opening Comments ...
"We are pleased and delighted to be here today. This is a great day for Utah State University and a great day for Aggie Athletics."

"I think all of us a few weeks ago were disappointed when we found out that Randy and Becky Spetman were going to leave Utah State University to take an opportunity at Florida State University. We certainly knew that we would miss them and the outstanding leadership they have provided Utah State University for the last three and a half years, but we also really did know and understood that they had helped us put in place a foundation that would allow us to go out and find excellent leadership for our athletic program and we've been able to do that."

"I absolutely think that as you get to know the individuals that I will announce in just a few moments, that the enormous strengths that they bring to this appointment, we feel very good about it. We had several successful finalists in this process and we were excited about these finalist, but one individual clearly emerged from the group, So today I am excited to introduce to you Utah State's new athletic director, Scott Barnes."

"Scott comes to us from the University of Washington where he has been serving as the senior associate athletic director. Among other stops along the way, he spent a number of years as the athletics director at Eastern Washington where the program has had parallel success and projects. I assure you I am absolutely confident that he brings to us just the right combination of background, experience, skill, personality and wonderful personal drive, it will absolutely bring guaranteed success in what we're hoping to accomplish."

Comments From New Utah State Athletics Director Scott Barnes

Opening Remarks ...
"On behalf of the Barnes family, I would like to thank President Albrecht and the search committee and others for the opportunity to be here as well as thanking the trustees. It is a wonderful opportunity. As we've gotten to know and reacquaint ourselves with Utah State University, we got to know the good things happening at this university through President Albrecht's leadership, we became even more interested and compelled in the job. All of you have made tremendous efforts over the years to build a rich tradition and history and I think it's just a wonderful opportunity to build from. So the good work that many of you have done has truly set the foundation for what we hope to be an even better era for the Aggies here at Utah State. It is absolutely a great day to be an Aggie."

On Immediate Future For Athletic Department ...
"We'll have a 90-day plan to give us the opportunity to assess all of our programs, with their strengths. As an athletic director, I'm going to count on our staff and rolling our sleeves up to facilitate all of our programs. When you look at the opportunities that we have, perhaps the biggest opportunity is to improve football. We're going to find ways to help Coach (Brent) Guy and his staff to do just that and I think a wonderful start is the Athletic Center. We look forward to giving our coaches the tools they need to succeed in the WAC, and that is something that's paramount toward that priority."

On Experience Of Previous Jobs Comparing To Challenges At Utah State ...
"In college athletics there are a lot of parallels and no matter what the size of one's program and budget, we all have financial challenges. I think that the places I've been and some of the success our staffs have had in helping work as a team in being successful with limited budgets and limited resources. So the challenges here are not unlike other places that we've been. Quite frankly, many of those challenges are really opportunities waiting to bloom and that is how we're going to look at this."

On Other Improvements Besides The Athletic Center ...
"I think that we need to take a look at priorities. Let me start with our number one priority and that is all about the experience of a student-athlete, competitively and academically. As a starting point, what things can we do to effect change in what experiences a student-athlete can have. That may include additional facilities, if we look at finishing up the Athletic Center, and it may include a multitude of other opportunities. All that we do as we assess our athletic program is going to be built on the experiences our student-athletes have in the classroom and competition, and at the end of the day, in life. Because we are about the business of preparing them for life."

On Progressing And Developing In The Western Athletic Conference ...
"To have a home in the WAC is absolutely the best place for Utah State. Now, what it's about is to close that gap, not just budgetarily but resource wise and create some energy around that. I'm looking forward to working with the university team and our athletic department, who have done a tremendous job to get to this place and time."

On Re-Connecting Average Fans In Region With Utah State University Athletics ...
"I think we need to create a sense of energy and urgency around getting to know our neighbors even better, and those outside the region. We need to count on the support of all of our Aggie friends and alumni, not only in the Cache Valley, but nationally. In order to do that, we're going to have to go out and see them, in a multitude of ways to make that happen. We're going to create some opportunities around going to them and getting them re-engaged and excited about what's going on."

What, More Than Anything, Appeals To You About Being An Athletic Director ...
"My wife Jody and I are both former student-athletes and I think it comes down to this, life's lessons are best learned in competition and as student-athletes. I think we understand the needs and issues that coaches and student-athletes have as well as our opportunity to effect change in their lives. Utah State has done a wonderful job of attracting quality student-athletes and preparing them for life. We want to not only continue that, but in any way improve that, and at the end of the day, that is why we're here."

On What Attracted Him To Taking This Job ...
"A position like this, you really look at so many factors that play into it. One is the combination of three things in this industry: to find an opportunity where you feel you can effect positive change, meet family needs and enjoy the geography. I'm a fly fisherman. That, coupled with the leadership and direction that the university in going under President Albrecht's leadership is absolutely what attracted us to this job."

On Big-Money Football Games ...
"Number one, we schedule for success, so what does that mean? I think it means balance, and I think what you need to do is think about keeping that company with one of those a year, over time so where you can play against the very best. Your student-athletes crave that opportunity, but there's a balance. The balance is that you don't need to play three or four of those a year, you need to play and get into the position to play just one. The WAC's strategic plan suggests that we play 11 home games during a two-year period. So that we want to make sure that we give our football team the very best opportunities to succeed and do that in a balanced way. I will be having conversations with Coach Guy around that because as we both plan for football, that is absolutely a key component."

On Being At Eastern Washington, With A Smaller Budget And What You Have Learned About Pinching Pennies ...
"If you can succeed there, you can succeed anywhere. When you think about the parallels, and there are some, and believe it or not there are some parallels between the University of Washington and Eastern Washington, you've got to look a little deeper for them. But I think as you look at where Eastern Washington was within the Big Sky Conference at the I-AA level, as it relates to funding and resources, and you look at Utah State and where it is within the WAC, there are some similarities. We were able to build a budget and create facility improvements and opportunities for our coaches to succeed in doing that."

On Improving Fundraising For Utah State ...
"Anytime you look at a program from the outside, and you look in, you can have all the wonderful ideas in the world and when you get there, you really understand what the issues are and how to implement them. What I try to do is stay away from thinking about specific programming and think more about over-arching things that connect with our alumni and friends in creating a sense of urgency around accountability and getting out and seeing other people and telling them the story, not just the wonderful story of athletics but the wonderful story we have to tell about our university. I've thought more generally about how we effect change than I have about specifically program-wide. I will tell you within the next 90 days, I'm going to have a real good idea about what our plans are. We'll do that spending a lot of time within our internal groups, on campus, within athletics as well as external, and not just within Cache Valley, so we'll spend a lot of time in figuring that out."

On Plan For Improving Other, Smaller Profile Sports ...
"We want to be in a position to facilitate success of all of our programs, and in order to create that plan we want to sit down and look at the needs and issues of those programs, and make some decisions that help our coaches be successful. We'll do that with all of our programs. Certainly, we'll spend some time with football because if you look at how we might grow in our revenues, some of our best opportunities revolve around that. I'm so proud of what's been done, and I say proud now because I'm an Aggie today. With winning a conference track championship recently and the current success of men's basketball, there are just so many successes around and we just want to continue that."

On His Definition Of Success ...
"Success as it relates to athletics, it is about a quality educational experience in the classroom, in competition and in life. What we are about is preparing our student-athletes in those areas and having them go out and become the next leaders in our community or in other communities. The measurement for that is winning on the field, APR scores, GPA scores and graduation rates. That is it in a nutshell."