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Logan • Reminiscing about the bad old days of Utah State football, school president Stan Albrecht recalled a conversation he once had with a retiring lieutenant.
"He looked at me and said, 'Stan, before I die, I would really like to see Utah State go to a bowl game,' " Albrecht said. "And he did. He was there for the first one. I told him, 'This one's for you.' "
Truth be told, the Aggies played in six bowl games prior to the former colleague's lament to Albrecht. But USU endured a 14-year postseason drought between 1997 and 2011, leaving everyone connected to the program wondering if it would ever happen again.
During those unhappy years, Utah State never won more than five games in a season — and the Aggies did that once. Their combined record of 43-106 made bowling seem more like an unreachable dream than a realistic possibility.
Of course, everything's changed.
Utah State makes its fifth consecutive bowl appearance Tuesday, when the Aggies play Akron in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. They are 43-23 over the last five seasons, including 25-5 at home.
Of the field, the success in football has impacted far-flung corners of the university, from enrollment to facility improvement to gift-giving. According to numbers provided by the university, freshman enrollment at the Logan campus alone jumped 24 percent between 2010 and 2015. During the same period, donations to the athletic department increased from $2.44 million to $7.31 million.
"It goes hand-in-hand," said Albrecht, who has been school president since 2005. "The excitement football can create in the larger community — the buzz — is so important."
Scott Barnes was Utah State's athletic director from 2008 until last spring, when he was hired by Pitt.
"I've said many times football is the front porch of the university," Barnes said. "It's the most visible room we've got and all sorts of folks come through the athletic door. And that shows up in many, many ways."
Barnes ran the Utah State athletic department while the Aggies transitioned from the collapsing Western Athletic Conference to the more stable Mountain West Conference. Improvement in the football program was a vital part of receiving an invitation to switch neighborhoods.
"When we started to have serious conversations with [Mountain West commissioner] Craig Thompson, we had a very strong basketball program, thanks to Stew Morrill," Barnes said. "That's what we had to hang our hat on.
"But we had just won a bowl game and we were moving forward. I remember showing Craig plans for our new facilities. … I told him, 'This is not a dream. These are funded.' I was able to show him a timeline because of the success we started to have in football."
At that point, Barnes said, other Mountain West schools "started recognizing Utah State. … The viability of our [football] program was very important to the conference leadership."
Of course, new facilities like the Laub athletic-academic complex, the Icon Sports Performance Center and expanded Maverik Stadium cost money. According to Albrecht and Barnes, football's success helped create an atmosphere that encouraged donors.
"It's the old which-came-first question — the chicken or the egg — as far as having a winning program and the facilities needed for a winning program." Albrecht said. "… But there's no question that once you start winning and going to bowl games, other folks get excited about it and want to be part of it."
Barnes credited Jim Laub, a longtime supporter of Aggie athletics, for getting the bandwagon rolling.
"Jim was there at the beginning and one of the things we talked about was who else can we get to step up," Barnes said. "Over time, several others did. They stepped up to a very high level — a million-dollar level. … I believe that's because people had respect for the plan and what we were doing" on the field.
Others noticed, too.
Enrollment at Utah State has jumped to over 27,000 students. Albrecht doesn't think it's a coincidence.
"When you're on ESPN or ESPN channels eight or nine times a team, it's great visibility for the institution," he said. "… The application numbers have gone up dramatically in the last half-dozen years because we're more visible as an institution. Those watching our [football] games see the beauty of the area, with the mountains in the background, and potential students take a closer look at us."
Twitter: @sluhm —
Bowling with the Aggies
Utah State's four-year run of bowl games including year, season record, bowl and bowl result:
2011 7-6 Potato Bowl Lost to Ohio, 24-23
2012 11-2 Potato Bowl Beat Toledo, 41-15
2013 9-5 Poinsettia Bowl Beat N. Illinois, 21-14
2014 10-4 New Mexico Bowl Beat UTEP, 21-6 Idaho Potato Bowl
P Utah State vs. Akron
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m.
TV • ESPN
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