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LOGAN — Utah State introduced its new men's basketball head coach at a press conference Tuesday morning after officially announcing the hire of Jerrod Calhoun on Saturday morning.
Calhoun said he was involved in multiple coaching searches, but that he chose the Aggies because of what he saw in the team and in the community as he watched their games after dark on the East Coast.
"The Aggies became my favorite team last year," Calhoun said. "I fell in love with this group of players. I told these guys if they come back, (if) they run it back, we can win a national championship. I truly believe that. I got hooked on these guys."
After last season, the Aggies faithful may not be keen to believe that their guys will, in fact, "run it back," but things could certainly be much worse.
Many, if not all, of the rostered players were in attendance at the press conference. Isaac Johnson, the Aggies' starting center for much of last season, announced his plans to return to the team next season on his Instagram account. And Calhoun certainly seems keen on the idea of keeping what has been established in Logan rather than constructing a team from scratch.
The only notable departure for the Aggies, aside from Darius Brown II who exhausted his eligibility, is Mason Falslev, who entered the transfer portal last week.
"This is not a rebuild, this is a reload," Calhoun said. "We want to reload our talent, we want to develop our talent, and we want to have a style that fans gravitate to coming in the Spectrum.
"I know the expectation level around here; I welcome that. … All the coaches, all the former players, I had a chance to reach out to a lot of those guys. One thing they constantly said was how special Logan is and how special the Spectrum is. You get goosebumps as you go in there."
Calhoun's contract is a five-year deal similar to Danny Sprinkle's contract last year with the Aggies. Calhoun will make $925,000 in total compensation in his first year, with a $25,000 raise each season.
Day 1️⃣✔️
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) April 3, 2024
"The most important people in this are the players." @USUCoachCalhoun#AggiesAllTheWaypic.twitter.com/LQw8Ol4oQc
Diana Sabau, the Aggies' athletic director who led the search for a new head coach for both the men's and women's basketball programs this year, said she was looking for coaches that have "energy and passion," the highest character, that care about developing talent and people, and that can help the Aggies continue "our winning tradition."
"My style is pretty simple," Calhoun explained. "We want to play the right way, we want to stay connected, we want to find (and) keep advantages on the floor. … We want to be on the attack. We want to score in the 80s, right? We want to have a fun style to play."
He wants to do all those things, and win a national championship.
"The goal here is quite simple: Let's win a national championship," Calhoun said, concluding his remarks Tuesday.
In addition to his high aspirations for the program and its success, Calhoun mentioned multiple times his intention to get involved in the community.
"You guys will learn really fast, we pour into this community," Calhoun said. "Anything that you guys have that you want our basketball program to do, we're going to jump all in. … The impact you can have on people is tremendous."
He added that Logan feels like a great match for he and his family.
"The door is always open," Calhoun said. "I'm a people person, and I cannot thank you guys enough for coming out (to the press conference). The next 48 hours are going to be very crazy."
