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Logan • John Hartwell introduced himself to Utah State's athletes and supporters on Wednesday by saying he read a poll asking when the Aggies would win a Mountain West title and in what sport.

His answer? "We will roll up our sleeves and bust our tails and win multiple MWC championships in multiple sports," he said.

Talk about a way to introduce yourself.

Hartwell, who succeeds Scott Barnes as the Aggies' vice president and director of athletics, set forth a number of challenges and goals during his news conference Wednesday at the Wayne Estes Center on the USU campus.

The 50-year-old Alabama native talked about maintaining USU's high academic rates and standards, making sure the student-athletes were taken care of and, perhaps most importantly, winning — especially against the big boys.

"The way I like to operate is with a little chip on the shoulder," he said. "I like our staff and student-athletes to operate with a chip on their shoulder. Our budget might not be as big as Utah's, but we are going to find a way to beat them."

That winning attitude, and perhaps his willingness to put himself on the line, were one of the many reasons USU decided Hartwell was the man for the job, school President Stan L. Albrecht said.

Barnes supervised and initiated several facility projects, and the Aggies want to continue that growth, which made Hartwell's business background attractive.

"It's a new era," Albrecht said, acknowledging Barnes' departure to become Pitt's athletic director. "But change provides great opportunity."

Hartwell, who graduated from The Citadel in 1987, was a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young before returning to college athletics as The Citadel's director of internal audit in 1991.

Through nine years as Ole Miss' treasurer and chief operating officer for the Mississippi Athletic Association Foundation, Hartwell continued to build his business sense for sports by managing the athletics budget.

Those skills helped him improve Troy's athletics since his arrival in 2012, and he intends to do the same with the Aggies, he said.

"If you don't think college athletics isn't an arms race, you are kidding yourself," he said. "We will have a long-term vision of how we can stay on the cutting edge from a recruiting standpoint and the 'wow' factor we have. Like it or not, 17- and 18-year-old kids are coming to our campus and seeing our projects and facilities, then going to the folks we are recruiting against. We want them to say, 'Man, Utah State's facilities are tremendous.' "

Ultimately, though, Hartwell said his biggest concern is to make sure USU's student-athletes thrive. He said emphasizing the "Game of Life," in building social skills, was important to him.

"We want to make sure the student-athletes that matriculate through our athletic department and get degrees are fine representatives of our university," Hartwell said.

Utah State football coach Matt Wells was among those who attended Wednesday's news conference, and he said he liked what he heard from his new boss.

"He brings a confidence and a good background of experience that hopefully will take us to new heights," he said.

Hartwell didn't forget the fans during his news conference, noting that it is more difficult to attract fans to games because of TV contracts that call for games during the week or late start times.

"We have to make sure our fan experience is as good if not better than any other in the country," he said.

Hartwell officially will not begin his duties until mid-July, but he said he'll waste little time in hitting the ground running once he and his family are settled in the area.

His first order of business will be to meet with each USU coach and administrator to make sure everyone is on the same page.

"I want to make sure all our coaches have the mindset of not just being competitive, but operate with the thought that we can be at the top of the Mountain West Conference," he said.