This letter is meant to be taken in direct response to Scott Barnes's letter from the viewpoint of the at large Aggie student body to the USU administration
Mr. Barnes and the USU Athletic and Academic Administration -
Your assumptions are correct. We have been following the conference realignment between the WAC and the MWC with great anxiety, hoping to see USU come out on top of all of this. Needless to say we are dismayed, frantic, feeling betrayed, desperate, and very upset... but not with you.
In the world of business, which is what collegiate athletics and conference alignment really is, there are the honest and the dishonest, the pure and the tainted, the upright and the unethical. In its schools of business, science, education, and humanities, USU teaches ethics of the business world - that honor should be kept, that promises made should be upheld. This you did. The Aggie community is very pleased to know that USU is firmly committed to follow it's own Honor Pledge: "I pledge, on my honor, to conduct myself with the foremost level of ... integrity." When USU had the option to turn its back on a deal in favor of another that could have been better, USU stood firm. USU set the example. You, the administration, believed in the promises of those who stood with you and you in turn expected your promise to be believed.
But you were betrayed. Things are now really ugly - we understand. Should the WAC stand as it currntly does with six teams, believe us when we tell you that our rage will be felt full force against Fresno on September 16 when the Bulldogs come to face the Aggies on Merlin Olsen Field in Romney stadium. Believe us when we say that Nevada and Fresno will wish they didn't have to come to the Spectrum this year. All encounters previous will be considered tame and calm compared to the absolute contempt these schools will feel from the very educated USU student body. We understand what happened, and we are not happy with those who used to be called our friends. They are now embittered enemies to us. (On a side note, Nevada was already pretty despised. Now it will we outright hated.)
But now is a time for action. Do not sit around on your laurels hoping that the door to the MWC is still open. Operate on the assumption that it's not and once again take command of the situation. If an opportunity presents itself for USU to enter the MWC, take advantage of it. If the opportunity to get BYU in your conference without joining the MWC is still there, take advantage of it. We Aggie faithful are certain you are considering all the options, but we respectfully remind the administration that taking no action is the same as choosing to perish at the hands of Fresno State, Nevada, and the rest of the MWC, which is unacceptable for us and is equivalent to USU's denial of entry to the WAC 40+ years ago.
Indeed, all of these seems somewhat similar to when the WAC was originally formed in the 1960's. USU's requests and lobbies to join fell upon deaf ears once upon a time, and to ask the Aggie faithful to endure the past again is almost too much.
In short, we demand results this time around. Follow Stew's example and win. You've been punched in the mouth, now get back up and do some punching of your own. And if you go down, if you can't help it, if you've tried everything possible and if you still come up short; at the very least, show us that you went down with a fight. Show us that you scratched and clawed and drew as much blood as possible trying to make it work; we will respect you that much more for it. As proof, take our applause for USU's role in nearly orchestrating the coup of the decade in getting BYU to return to the WAC.
We thank you, the administration, for finally putting your time, energy, and resources into developing Aggie athletics as no previous administration has done for the last 40+ years. Thank you for your continued devotion to Logan, Cache Valley, and the entire state of Utah in your effort to continuously increase the profile of the university and its students nationally. We salute your fine work and trust that you will do everything possible to remedy the unethical and dishonest actions of Fresno State University and the University of Nevada-Reno.
But we still promise, when FSU and UNR come to town, they'll wish they'd not jumped ship so quickly. At the very least, they will feel embarrassed for not being able to assert athletic superiority over USU or its very enthusiastic student body.
Faithfully,
the USU student body at large
