“The goal here is quite simple, win a national championship,” Calhoun said at the end of his remarks.

Calhoun and Brooks were formally introduced to the media and fans Tuesday. Sabau announced the hiring of Calhoun Saturday morning, while Brooks was hired Monday evening.

The new men’s coach began his opening statement by saying he was “really, really excited to be here.” He went on to thank many who had helped him reach this point in his career, especially his last stop at Youngstown State. Calhoun also credited Sabau for her leadership and joked that his wife told him he had finally met his match.

The new Aggie coach stressed the importance of keeping the team intact as only one player from last year’s team is out eligibility. Athletes from the most current team were in attendance Tuesday, including starting guard Mason Falslev who has entered the transfer portal, but can return.

“The most important people are the players,” Calhoun said. “These guys, as Diana (Sabau) said, are unbelievable. They just got done playing and making history. As we met earlier today, I can not thank them enough. I’m excited to work with these guys. I think we are going to have a tremendous chemistry together, and we are ready to get started.”

Calhoun believes the current Aggie team can compete on a national level and said he will work to retain the athletes.

“I told these guys if they come back, if they run it back, we could win a national championship,” Calhoun said. “I truly believe that. … This is not a rebuild, this is a reload. We want to reload our talent, develop our talent and have a style that fans gravitate to.”

And if the Aggies do go win a national title, will Calhoun be looking to move on or stay at USU?

“I have read quite a bit about this place and the number of changes, but I can tell you this,” Calhoun said. “My girls are at an age where we don’t want to move. We would like to really stay where we are at. We have three little ones. If that is the case (winning a national title), absolutely, and hopefully I get a big raise.”

The crowd applauded the coach.

Sabau said Calhoun was signed to a five-year contract. His base salary will begin at $925,000 with a $25,000 annual increase. The contract runs through March 31, 2029. There is also a buyout structure, beginning at 80 percent if he leaves before March 31, 2025, and decreases each year he is at USU.

“We locked them in at very competitive salaries in the Mountain West and included guaranteed annual increases in their salary and then also their accomplishment and bonus compensation structure,” Sabau said. “It was really important for us to make it competitive, so we can retain our coaches. It was important to find young families that want to have roots in Cache Valley and call Logan their home.”

Sabau said increases in pay for assistant coaches was also important to help make the teams competitive and not worry as much about retaining staff members. Having a good buyout structure is also important as regular coaching searches are not cheap.

Sabau said five coaches were interviewed for the position once Danny Sprinkle left for Washington. Four were current head coaches, while one was an assistant.

“We believed we needed the experience of someone who had run a program and been at a high, winning level,” Sabau said. “We started the process on Monday and we were done by Friday. That’s a pretty quick process, a lot of long hours, due diligence. During that time, we had meetings with the men’s team. Those young men really matter. We want them to stay in Logan. We care about all of them. … It will be great when they all stay.”

Calhoun and his wife, Sarah, have a son (Jordan) and three daughters (Kendall, Kennedy and Quinn, who was celebrating her fifth birthday on Tuesday). The 42-year-old coach spent the last seven seasons at Youngstown State in Youngstown, Ohio. He was also the head coach at Division II Fairmont State for five seasons and has an overall record of 242-144 as a head coach for 12 years. Calhoun went to high school in Cleveland and played two years at Cleveland State.

Becoming involved in the community is important to Calhoun and promised that his athletes will be part of Cache Valley.

“Sporting events and different kinds of events, anything that you guys have that you want our basketball program to do, I’m here to tell you we are going to jump all in,” Calhoun said.

The Aggies are not completely new to Calhoun. Despite living in the eastern time zone, he paid attention to what USU was doing during the 2023-24 campaign.

“The Aggies became my favorite team last year,” Calhoun said. “I told coach Sprinkle this two nights ago when we talked for an hour-and-a-half, I fell in love with this group of players.

“... I think you guys are going to realize that coach Calhoun goes 100 miles an hour, whether it’s fundraising or being in this community. Logan fits us. As we drove in here last night, we said this is a little like West Virginia, but the mountains are much prettier out here. We feel at home and that is so, so important.”

The new coach said he welcomes the expectation level and is aware that fans expect the Aggies to win. He has talked with some former USU players and coaches and quickly realized how special Logan is and the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. He is also looking forward to working with the student organization the HURD.

“My style is pretty simple,” Calhoun said. “We want to play the right way. We want to stay connected. We want to find key advantages on the floor whether that’s a post up, a ball screen, an off-ball screen, we want to be on the attack and score in the 80s. We want to have a fun style.”