Making His Mark at USU

New USU football coach Gary Andersen did much to ingratiate himself to Aggie fans at his introductory press conference, Thursday.
Yes, he made it clear he was happy to have the job. But he had other material, as well. Asked what selling points he has when recruiting local athletes, he said, ‘Players, scheme and toughness.’
Whether that results in better recruiting remains to be seen. But he does seem on the right track. When one booster asked if the public can attend practices, he said, ‘Absolutely. Every day. We have nothing to hide.’
Except maybe a trick play or two.
He also drew laughs when he was asked if he got any reaction from USU fans who didn’t want someone hired from the University of Utah. Said Andersen: ‘No. Not that I can think of. I’m a Utah guy….I said that wrong. I’m a State of Utah guy.’
Andersen said salaries for assistants have improved and that coaching at Utah State will be a ‘very, very good job.’ He added that ‘nobody’s going to be coming in from a WAC school saying, ‘Hey, we want that guy.”
As the press conference neared an end, he asked those in attendance, ‘What else you got? Is that it? You guys are easy.’

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Andersen didn’t really answer one pressing question, however: How many ‘money’ games will the Aggies play? Part of their problems have been the result of playing too many bigger opponents. Normally, USU will play one or two games against BCS teams like Oklahoma, Arkansas or Alabama. Toss in the years in which the Aggies play Utah and BYU, that’s three or four losses to begin. And not counting Boise State.
But asked about playing bigger opponents, he merely said, ‘We want to play good teams, but at the end of the day, we’ll play whoever is out there on our schedule.’