Utah State agrees to 5-year deal with Jerrod Calhoun amid coaching carousel

After one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Utah State Aggies are paying the price. Danny Sprinkle, who had come to Logan just a year ago after leading Montana State to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, departed for the University of Washington less than 72 hours after Utah State's 2nd round loss to Purdue. It's unfortunate that this is the state of the college game, where mid-majors are being relentlessly pillaged by the power conferences for both its players and coaches, but that's just the world we live in, and you can't necessarily fault Sprinkle for looking at Washington, who is on their way to the Big Ten, as a step up from Utah State.

Acting quickly to replace Sprinkle, Utah State finds themselves in the position where they're the one's doing the pillaging. Jerrod Calhoun coached Youngstown State to back-to-back twenty win seasons for the first time in program history, and when you manage to accomplish something like that, it's a foregone conclusion that higher profile jobs will be calling. And with the defending Mountain West champions in search of a new head coach, that's exactly what happened:

“It’ll be a five-year deal for Jerrod Calhoun at Utah State,” according to sources of ESPN's Pete Thamel. “The school also stepped up its financial commitment to staff, as it aims to defend the Mountain West regular season title.”

Who is Jerrod Calhoun? 

Jerrod Calhoun has spent the previous seven seasons coaching Youngstown State, and you could easily make the case that he was the most successful coach in program history. Not only has Calhoun coached the Penguins to back-to-back twenty win seasons, he's led the program to their only regular season conference title, and a program record five consecutive winning seasons. But in fairness, Calhoun's success at Youngstown State may not even be the most appealing part of his CV.

Calhoun's first taste of coaching came as a graduate assistant under legendary head coach Bob Huggins while Huggins was at Cincinnati. Four years later, the two would reunite when Calhoun was hired to be an assistant on Huggins' staff at West Virginia. In the five seasons that Calhoun spent in Morgantown with Huggins, the Mountaineers made five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four run in 2010 — the Mountaineers first since 1959, when Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West was on the team. Calhoun would leave following the 2011-12 season to take over as head coach at Division II Fairmont State.

This is where Jerrod Calhoun's story really gets interesting. For three seasons, one of Calhoun's top assistants was none other than Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who played under Calhoun and Huggins at West Virginia. It was Mazzulla who took over for Calhoun at Fairmont State when Calhoun left to take the Youngstown State job in 2017, after leading Fairmont to their first ever Division II title game appearance.

If Calhoun finds immediate success at Utah State, it will be no surprise. Despite frequent turnover on the coaching staff and on the roster — this past season, the Aggies roster didn't have a single player on it who scored a point for the team the previous season — the Aggies have proven to be one of the most consistent programs in the Mountain West, making four of the last five NCAA Tournaments under three different head coaches. It feels awfully safe to assume that they'll make that five tournaments in the last six seasons with four different head coaches next year.