This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Logan • Utah State president Stan Albrecht took an hour of out his schedule last week for a sit-down with Tribune photographer Scott Sommerdorf and I.

President Albrecht has already announced he is retiring, after 11 years on the job. As always, he was forthcoming and insightful when I asked him about the Aggie athletic program and the progress it has made on his watch. Here are some observations, insights and thoughts from him that I was not able to squeeze into my story for Sunday morning's edition of the Tribune.

• In April of 2008, Albrecht hired Scott Barnes as athletic director. Months later, Brent Guy was fired as Utah State's football coach and replaced by Gary Andersen.

Asked about that process, Albrecht said, "When I hired Scott here, we knew the next step in our evolution had to be hiring the right football coach. So we identified the four or five guys we thought could do that for us. We interviewed them in Salt Lake and spent some hours with each of them. And they were all good. In fact, every one of them, within the next few years, had a major Division I coaching job. We had the right group, but Gary was the best.

"After spending time with Gary, he walked out of the room and we looked at each other and said, 'That's our guy.' Gary's experience, understanding of the local culture, understanding of a successful missionary program, understanding of the Polynesian athlete and their success in Utah and connection with the high school football coaches in Utah was obvious. It was absolutely incredible the connection he had with them. So we knew Gary was the guy who could move us."

• After leading Utah State to an 11-2 record and a Western Athletic Conference championship in 2012, Andersen left for Wisconsin. Aggie assistant Matt Wells was hired to replace him.

Said Albrecht: "Gary did for us exactly what we were hoping he's do for us. We also knew he wouldn't be around forever. But Utah State had been hiring and firing a coach every four or five years. We knew that wasn't going to get us where we were going. So we knew the big schools would be calling for Gary, but we also knew Matt would be ready to step into that roll. And he's done very well. … It was all about building a foundation so we weren't starting over all the time."

• Utah State joined the Mountain West Conference in 2013, after the WAC's viability as a football league failed. Albrecht explained why getting into the Mountain West was vital for the survival of the Aggie athletic program.

He said: "It was clear football was dead in the WAC. It wasn't going anywhere. The only possible way of surviving was to attract Montana and Montana State — schools like that. And they didn't have the budgets to be comfortable moving up. They were comfortable being a big fish in a smaller pond. We had those conversations. But we knew that wasn't going to happen and we said, 'We have to find a way to make the Mountain West work.' Were we there days we were worried? Yeah, there were a lot of sleepless nights. …

"I feel badly about this but, looking at a couple of our old WAC colleagues, Idaho has struggled mightily and just made the decision to move all its sports into the Big Sky [Conference]. That's a tough, tough decision to make for a proud institution that has had a history of athletic success. And New Mexico State doesn't even have that option. They are looking at independence and, unless you're Notre Dame, independence is a dead-end road. And we could have been in one of those two places."

• More on getting into the Mountain West, after the break up of the WAC: "It was absolutely essential. We basically has nowhere else to go. … We had a plan for the Western Athletic Conference. It was a good plan. It was the right plan. It included BYU coming back into the WAC. It was the right number of schools. But a couple of my colleagues at other institutions backed out and, once it was clear we couldn't build the WAC, our situation was very limited.

"… Several other presidents didn't know anything about Logan. They said, 'Well, you can't get there.' And, No. 2, 'You don't have the facilities.' So we had to show them. We got them to come and take a look. Back in the day when the Mountain West and Conference USA were talking about merging, we got the commissioners to come out and spend a few days with us. I remember them standing in the new Ag building and looking out over the valley and seeing the things going on that were feeding the momentum of this institution. They said, 'Wow, this is a really good place.'"