SAN DIEGO—When not scouting an opponent, Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun prefers to watch professional basketball over the college game. Either the Boston Celtics, where former player and assistant Joe Mazzulla has won an NBA title, or European competition.
But if Calhoun does decide to watch college hoops, Arizona is high on his list.
“I love the way they play,” Calhoun said. “There’s very few college basketball teams I enjoy watching play. But Tommy’s probably one of the five teams I really enjoy watching.
I think he creates a space for his players. He’s done a tremendous job playing big. It’s hard to do in today’s landscape. I think their players really know how to play.”
That meant Calhoun already had a frame of reference when he began watching film of the Wildcats in preparation for Sunday’s NCAA Tournament second round game. After beating Villanova on Friday night he said he planned to watch “at least seven” UA games, which would require a lot of coffee.
“I’m losing track of coffee,” he said Saturday. “It’s starting to taste like all the same, whether it’s a latte, a light roast, a dark roast. Four already today, to be honest with you.”
The 44-year-old Calhoun, in his second year at Utah State, has been a college head coach since 2012 when he left an assistant job with Bob Huggins at West Virginia to take over Division II Fairmont State. After five seasons he jumped to D-I, coaching at Youngstown State for seven years before taking the Utah State job.
Calhoun has made the NCAA tourney both seasons with the Aggies and appears poised to be the latest coach to leave that school for a bigger job. He replaced Danny Sprinkle, who is at Washington, and before him was Ryan Odom (VCU, then Virginia) and Craig Smith (Utah). And that’s all since 2021.
A Cincinnati alum, he’s been linked to that opening, and while he didn’t address that job specifically he did note that being rumored for other jobs is a sign of success.
“When was the last Utah State coach that hasn’t been rumored for a job?,” he said. “Anytime you have success, coaches are trying to steal your players, and athletic directors are certainly wanting to talk to the coaches.”
Repping the little guys
Only four programs from outside the power conferences made the second round this year, and for the second tourney in a row no teams seeded 4th or better lost in the first round. That’s led to plenty of debate about whether NIL and revenue sharing have made it harder for mid-majors to become Cinderellas.
Utah State is definitely at a disadvantage from a financial standpoint. Calhoun said that, although his school opted in to participating in revenue sharing following the landmark NCAA settlement last summer, no actual revenue was shared. Instead, all of his money for roster management came from donors, with that bringing in $2.4 million for 2025-26 after generating less than $900,000 his first season.
“We knew as a staff we’ve got to spend about 70 percent of our time in the offseason fundraising,” he said. “And that’s something I’ve always done at Youngstown State, Fairmont State and now Utah State.”
Where Utah State could have an edge is in the court of public opinion. While Arizona is a betting favorite to make the Final Four and win it all, the first weekend of the tourney is as much about upsets as anything else.
“I think America is dying for a mid-major,” Calhoun said. “So if one of these three or four teams that are left can get to a Sweet 16, you instantly become America’s team, right? Everybody in the country roots for the underdog.”
The last meeting
Yours truly was there, filling in for longtime Arizona Daily Star beat writer Bruce Pascoe, and the 14th-seeded Aggies had a pretty strong turnout who made the 4-hour drive from Logan, Utah. That included members of The Hurd, Utah State’s student section.
Arizona is 1-3 against Utah State, though the three losses were between 1958-63. The only meeting this century came in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, won 66-53 by the Wildcats in Boise.
Third-seeded Arizona trailed 29-26 at halftime before Channing Frye and Salim Stoudamire took over. That duo combined for 25 points in the second half, making 11 free throws and helping hold Utah State to 26.7 percent shooting in the second half.
The UA would go on to beat No. 11 UAB in the second round, then knock off No. 2 Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 in Rosemont, Ill. No need to pick the scab of what happened after that.
