The six inductees include: Candy Cashell, USU's first female track All-American; Jim Laub, a life-long contributor of Aggie Athletics; Jimmy Moore, one of the best Aggie basketball players ever; Corey Murdock, one of just two track athletes in school history to earn All-American honors at least four times; Roy Shivers, an All-American running back; and Jim Turner, an outstanding quarterback and kicker.
Scholz comes to Utah State after spending the past year in the National Football League as a strength, nutrition and conditioning assistant with the San Francisco 49ers.
David Miller, Chairman and CEO of Hawks Bay, LLC, is a 1987 Utah State University Alumnus and serves on the National Advisory Board for Aggie Athletics.
USU President Albrecht and USU Athletics Director Scott Barnes at a press conference announcing the USU has accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West
Since assuming the duties of Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Utah State University on April 1, 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 Utah State Athletics.
That hope and excitement for Aggie Athletics was never more evident than during the 2011-12 academic year as Utah State participated in its first bowl game since 1997, introduced a program-wide athletics brand and identity program and accepted an invitation to compete in all of its sports in the Mountain West Conference beginning July 1, 2013.
During his tenure, Barnes has successfully negotiated several new initiatives and has created a new intercollegiate athletics-funding plan that has generated a significant increase in annual operating revenues since his arrival.
Among Barnes' many accomplishments 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 which led to substantial increases in Big Blue Scholarship Fund membership and major gift fund-raising.
Another priority for Barnes during his first year on the job was overhauling Utah State's football program, which included the hiring of Gary Andersen and the creation of a Competitive Excellence Plan that calls for a new scheduling philosophy, increased operational support to the tune of $2.5 million, and further facility developments.
As for facilities, Utah State continues to see constant improvement under Barnes with its latest endeavor being a $6.4 million, 21,000 square foot strength and conditioning center that will be completed in the summer of 2013 after receiving the largest single gift in the history of USU Athletics.
Other facility improvements under Barnes' watch include the completed construction of the 69,000 square foot Jim & Carol Laub Athletics-Academics Complex in 2008. USU also opened the Steve Mothersell Athletics Hall of Honor in 2009 as well as its new off-court basketball facilities, which include the Nate and Heather Wickizer men's basketball and MerLynn Pitcher women's basketball locker rooms. In 2010, USU opened the Dr. Randall and Julianne Stockham Student-Athlete Academic Hall of Honor and in 2011 a new synthetic turf was installed in the Stan Laub Indoor Training Center.
Along with upgrades to facilities and increased revenue under Barnes, Utah State also flourished athletically during the 2011-12 academic year as it claimed Western Athletic Conference team championships in men's cross country, women's soccer, and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, along with football finishing in second-place in the WAC and participating in its first bowl game in more than a decade. Overall, USU has won 17 WAC Championships in the past four years under Barnes.
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 84 percent graduation success rate and a cumulative 3.17 grade-point average. During the 2011-12 academic year, USU had 186 student-athletes earn academic all-WAC honors to lead the league and 197 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 and finished third nationally in 2010. Barnes himself has also garnered national attention as he has served on several NCAA committees including a recent appointment to the NCAA men's basketball committee. Barnes has been an active presenter at NACDA and has taught on the IA Athletic Directors Institute Faculty.
Prior to joining the Aggie Family, Barnes spent almost three years (2005-08) as senior associate athletics director for advancement at the University of Washington and was responsible for all external operations for the athletics department with specific emphasis on fundraising, ticket sales, multi-media rights management, marketing, event promotion and communications.
Prior to working at Washington, Barnes spent six years (1999-2005) as the athletics director at Eastern Washington University. During his tenure at EWU, the Eagles experienced unparalleled success, becoming the first athletics program in Big Sky Conference history to win championships in football, men's basketball, women's volleyball and women's soccer in one calendar year. While at Eastern Washington, he hired six head coaches and witnessed four of them earn Big Sky Coach of the Year honors.
Barnes also had tremendous success at Eastern Washington increasing operating funds for the athletics department by securing the single-largest gift for athletics in EWU history for football stadium renovations and a $3 million university soft drink contract. During his time at Eastern Washington, Barnes was recognized by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) as the Division I-AA West Region AD of the Year.
Barnes began his career in athletics as the director of athletic development at the University of San Diego from 1989-90. From 1990-94, Barnes held the position of executive director of the Pacific Athletic Foundation and associate athletics director at the University of the Pacific. Barnes then spent the next four years at Iowa State University where he served as the director of athletic development from 1994-95 and then associate athletics director for development and special projects from 1995-97. Following his stint at Iowa State, Barnes served as athletics director at Humboldt State in Arcata, Calif., from 1997-99.
Barnes, 50, 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 a member of the track team.
Barnes played professional basketball in Germany from 1985-86. He has also coached basketball at the high school and club levels and was the general manager of the Fresno Flames of the World Basketball League from 1988-89.
Barnes was born June 23, 1962 in Spokane, Wash. He and his wife, Jody, have one daughter, Milanna (16) and one son, Isaac (14)
