Scott Barnes

Athletics Director

Since being named Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Utah State University on March 7, 2008, Scott Barnes has worked tirelessly to improve the landscape of Aggie Athletics and has cast a vision that includes progress toward meeting many intercollegiate athletic priorities. And despite the instability within the American economy since his arrival at USU, Barnes’ list of accomplishments has generated a newfound hope and excitement for USU Athletics.

During his first year on the job, Barnes has successfully negotiated several new initiatives and has created a new intercollegiate athletics-funding plan to include self-generated revenue, student fees, and future institutional support to first stabilize and then grow the annual operating budget.

Among Barnes’ many accomplishments thus far at Utah State include a new student-fee referendum that will annually generate $2.1 million for Aggie Athletics. He has also overhauled USU’s development operations to include a 100 percent increase in Big Blue Scholarship Fund dollars and membership over the next four years, and created a new development position within the athletics department to expand major gift and overall fund-raising efforts.

Another priority for Barnes during his first year on the job at Utah State was improving the overall look of the football program. Plenty of progress has already been made in this area as Barnes conducted a very successful football coaching search that resulted in the hiring of Gary Andersen, and has already raised over $1.2 million toward a five-year goal of $2.5 million to improve the football program through the creation of a Competitive Excellence Plan that calls for a new scheduling philosophy, increased operational support and further facilities developments.

As for facilities, Utah State continues to see constant improvement under Barnes as its new Aggie Sports Hall of Honor, located on the first floor of the new Jim & Carol Laub Athletics-Academics Complex, will open in the fall of 2009. Construction for a new state-of-the-art off-court facilities complex within the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum began in the summer of 2009. These enhancements include new locker rooms and lounge areas for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, and a new film room for women’s basketball and volleyball.

Along with upgrades to facilities and increased donations under Barnes, Utah State also flourished athletically during the 2008-09 academic year as it claimed five Western Athletic Conference team championships – men’s and women’s cross country, women’s soccer, men’s basketball, men’s outdoor track and field – which is the most in its four years in the WAC and tied for the most in a single-season in school history as USU also won five Big West Conference championships in 1994 and 1998.

Even more impressive than Utah State’s athletic achievements during the past year are its continued successes by its student-athletes in the classroom. Overall, USU’s student-athletes traditionally rank among the best in the WAC with an 82 percent graduation success rate and a cumulative 3.04 grade-point average. During the 2008-09 academic year, USU had 181 student-athletes earn academic all-WAC honors to lead the league, and 150 were recognized at its annual Joe E. and Elma Whitesides Luncheon for earning a 3.2 or better GPA.

Utah State has also been recognized nationally under the leadership of Barnes as it was named the most economically efficient athletics department in the nation in June, 2009 following a study done by Texas A&M’s Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Barnes himself has also garnered national attention as he has been selected to be a faculty member for the Division I Athletics Director Association Institute in 2009.

Barnes, 47, received his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno in 1986, as well as his master’s degree in 1993 in physical education with an emphasis in athletic administration. He and his wife, Jody, were both student-athletes at Fresno State, as he was a member of the basketball team, while she was on the track team.

Barnes was born June 23, 1962 in Spokane, Wash. He and his wife have one daughter, Milanna (13) and one son, Isaac (11).