Utah State AD John Hartwell Thanks Craig Smith For ‘Significant Contributions’

Mar 27, 2021, 10:56 AM

Utah State athletic director John Hartwell speaks at the press conference announcing the hiring of Aggie head football coach Gary Andersen on Dec. 11, 2018, in Logan. (Courtesy of Deseret News)

(Courtesy of Deseret News)

BY TREVOR ALLEN, KSL SPORTS

KSL Sports

LOGAN, Utah – Utah State athletic director John Hartwell issued a statement after head basketball coach Craig Smith resigned from his position on Saturday.

Craig Smith left Utah State to become the next head coach of the Utah Utes. Smith spent three seasons in Logan as he turned around the Aggies’ program. In those three years, Smith led the team to three straight Mountain West Tournament Championship game appearances, including two titles.

John Hartwell issued the following statement on Saturday morning.

“I would like to thank Craig and his family for their significant contributions to Utah State University,” the statement read. “Craig and his staff did an outstanding job making Aggie men’s basketball a nationally recognized program. We have a tremendous nucleus of student-athletes returning to our program that have helped create a culture of winning and we want to make sure we keep them our priority as we continue to strengthen that culture moving forward.

“This is an extremely attractive job and we have already had tremendous interest from some very good coaches,” the statement continued. “We will move as quickly and efficiently as we can with this search, but we want to make sure we have the right person to build upon our success of qualifying for each of the last three NCAA tournaments and winning two of the last three Mountain West tournament championships.”