When Utah State athletics director John Hartwell met with Tim Duryea on Sunday, the Aggie basketball coach asked if another win or two in the conference tournament might have been enough to save his job.
The answer? No. The decision to fire him after three seasons as the head coach in Logan was about much more than that.
Utah State prides itself on its tradition of basketball success. As Hartwell assessed his men’s basketball program, however, he no longer saw the enthusiasm that once filled the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, and he no longer envisioned a path back there with Duryea at the helm.