LOGAN – Per reports from multiple outlets, Utah State University Vice President and Athletic Director John Hartwell has resigned his position. ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news Tuesday morning, saying Hartwell resigned late Monday.
Spoke to Utah State AD John Hartwell. He said he resigned from Utah State last night to move his family back to the South. “We had a great run at Utah State,” he told ESPN. “It’s time to make sure my family comes first.”
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 1, 2022
In Thamel’s tweet breaking the news, Hartwell is said to be resigning for family reasons. Brett McMurphy, reporting for Action Network, reported Hartwell is moving his family to Arkansas. Hartwell is originally from the southern United States, having graduated from high school in Alabama and playing basketball at The Citadel in South Carolina.
John Hartwell told @ActionNetworkHQ he resigned as Utah State’s AD for family reasons. “We’re moving closer to my wife’s family in Arkansas. We’re good. It’s time to put our family first. We had a great run at Utah State. We appreciate our time there”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 1, 2022
Short quotations from both tweets cite Hartwell as saying “it’s time to put our family first” even though they “had a great run at Utah State.”
Hartwell was hired to be USU’s athletic director in 2015 following a three-year tenure as the AD at Troy. He had notable success with the Aggies, who won seven regular season Mountain West championships, a Mountain Rim Gymnastics title and four postseason titles. He hired many of the athletic department’s most successful coaches, including Blake Anderson, Manny Martins, Rob Neilson. Several now-former USU head coaches Hartwell hired, such as Craig Smith and Amy Smith, were also highly successful in Logan.
There were strong rumors in previous weeks about the possibility of Hartwell taking the Auburn athletic director job after Allen Greene stepped down from that role. Auburn has reportedly hired Mississippi State’s AD, John Cohen, to fill that role despite Hartwell’s name being listed as one of the lead candidates.
This story will be updated as new details emerge.
