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With hiring of Craig Smith as their new men’s basketball coach, Aggies hope to bring back the ‘Spectrum Magic’

Logan • When he was an assistant coach at Colorado State nearly, scouting some of the teams in the Mountain West Conference, Craig Smith first took notice of Utah State basketball.

On Tuesday, Utah State introduced Smith as its new men’s basketball coach, during a news conference heavy on enthusiasm and promises of a return to the program’s glory days.

“One of the things I keep hearing is, ‘We’ve got to get the Spectrum magic back,’” athletics director John Hartwell said. “… I can’t wait for that to be there every night.”

Middling performances in the Mountain West conference, falling season-ticket sales and “fan apathy” led Hartwell to fire coach Tim Duryea earlier this month.