Utah State football: Hiring an Okie

Matt Wells is not the most famous quarterback in Sallisaw football history. Sallisaw is the hometown of Steve Davis, who quarterbacked the Sooners to a 32-1-1 record from 1973-75. Craig Benson also quarterbacked Sallisaw; he made all-state and now is the Black Diamonds’ head coach.

But give Wells times. The 1991 Oklahoma All-Stater became Utah State’s head coach Thursday. He was named to replace Gary Andersen, who resigned to become head coach at Wisconsin.

Wells was Utah State’s starting QB in 1994. By ’96, Wells was back on third sting, and he became a safety. In 1996, Wells became the first Aggie in 30 years to play both offense and defense in the same game.

Wells returned to his alma mater in 2011 as quarterback coach and recruiting coordinator. He  became offensive coordinator in 2012, and Utah State had a breakout season. The Aggies went 11-2 and routed Toledo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last Saturday. Utah State hadn’t had a winning season since 1997, until going 7-6 in 2011.

Utah State beat Utah 27-20 and darn near beat Wisconsin (lost 16-14) and Brigham Young (6-3). Utah State led Wisconsin 14-3 with eight minutes left in the game.

Utah State joins the Mountain West Conference for the 2013 season.

At Utah State, Wells played for Charlie Weatherbie (a former OSU quarterback). In 1997, Wells joined Weatherbie’s staff at Navy. From 2002-06, Wells was on the University of Tulsa staff. Wells also was at New Mexico (2007-08, 2010) and Louisville (2009).