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Show s Sporrsfacular- - Pag 6 Thursday December 20, 979 1 TaaoDOoi? ilk Last March, soon after Utah States ninth postold season basketball appearance in 18 ye&s, Aggie graduate Rod Tueller was vested with the challenge to continue the strong Aggie tradition in the sport. A 1959 Utah State grad, Tueller is the schools 12th head basketball coach. He succeeds the man he assisted for six years: Dutch Belnap. He was the popular choice for the job, following a nationwide search for Belnaps successor. A longtime Cache Valley native, Tueller assumed his new job exactly 20 years after receiving his degree from Utah State. In between were 14 years of high school coaching (at Utah's Altamont and Logan High Schools) and six years on Belnaps staff at USU. During the span he spent with Belnap, the Ags fashioned a fine 106-5- 8 record and appeared three n times in play. The ascension to a head job on the collegiate level resulted from circumstances in stark contrast to a couple of decades earlier when he packed his young family off to eastern Utah and tiny Altamont Highland a situation he knew little about. Tueller, father of six, knows what he's getting into time. And he likes the challenge. Im probably as blue and White as anybody youll find, said Tueller. I have some great ties with this university. I think Ive been involved with this school in about every conceivable way: as a student, as a fan, as a father (three of his daughters attended USU and were members of the Aggiettes marching group) and as an employee. Im really anxious to continue the ar post-seaso- sr dMDsimgj great tradition we have here in basketball. One of the brilliant young coaches to climb the ranks, of Utahs prep game, he spent eight years as the head coach at Logan High and continually had the Grizzlies in the state tournament. (He spent two years as an assistant coach at Logan, after four years as the head man at Altamont). Tuellers records on the high school level and during the past at Utah State when he directed the Jayvee program, indicate success (in terms of wins and (1965-197- 3) losses.) "But to me the real success in athletics is the association you have with players, coaches and administrators. And I attribute my success to being1 associated with good people. What does the new coach have in mind for Aggie basketball? e Im not heavily oriented toward goal planning, he said. Honestly, my long-ranggoals are greater than any lifetime accomplishments. I guess you would say I love to get involved totally in whatever Im into at the time. I really believe if you take care of the present, the future will be shaped in large measure by how deeply you dedicate yourself long-rang- right now. Tueller describes the style the program will assume as ...wide open; fast breaking offense and pressuring defense. But, doesn't mean I wont do other things to win. The key is adjusting the system to the players, and that will be our over-ridin- g philosophy. Certainly, everything we're doing now is with the objective of maintaining USUs great tradition. And. (UJSdJ) while that is the basis of the program now, a prinje motivation is to improve it. To win the PCAA, to become successful in play, and so on. But let's be honest, the success Dutch created will be a hard act to follow. As a former, prep coach, Tueller says one of the joys of collegiate basketball is working with the best of the high school athletes. I would call them physical geniuses, he said. It's a challenge to get them to exercise their potential and to play to their capabilities. And that is one of the tasks charged to Tueller and assistants Dana Pagett and Tom Stewart. post-seas- And then there is recruiting, the key to success everywhere in collegiate athletics. There is really nothing more to recruiting than selling, he said, and any salesman will tell you the easiest product to see is one you belive in. I dont find it too difficult to sell people on Cache Valley and Logan, and Utah State University. . Tuellers exposure to basketball led to a brilliant high school athletic career at Logan High and then he spent a year and a half at the University of Gardner before Utah playing for the legendary-Jactransferring to Utah State. A Cedar City native, Rod is active in his church having served as a Bishop and now a member of this Stake High Council. He is married to the former Valene Danford. They are parents of six children: Una (23), Dana (21), Lisa (19),Tann (18), Joni (17) and Juli (15). -- all-sta- te |