Usually, athletic departments gives a coaching staff some time after a season ends before firing them.
It turns out the administration at Utah State University could not even wait a couple of hours to fire women's basketball coach Kayla Ard, who broke her dismissal at a bizarre press conference following Sunday's loss to Boise State.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport"I'm not gonna be rebuilding, I just coached my last game" 😳<br><br>Utah State HC Kayla Ard was informed moments before her postgame press conference that the university was heading in a different direction <br><br>(via <a href="">@MountainWest</a>) <a href="">
"I just coached my last game at Utah State. I spoke with [athletic director Diana Sabau], and they're going in a different direction, and I respect her decision and I hope they get a really good coach in," Ard said.
That Utah State would fire Ard is not much of a surprise. The Aggies went just 5-25 in the 2023-24 season and were 2-16 against conference foes. Ard led the program to a 24-90 overall record in four seasons.
"We appreciate everything Kayla and her staff have contributed to Utah State," Sabau said in a statement. "However, it is in the best interest of the program to make a change."
The timing of the decision will draw understandable criticism. Sabau could have waited until after the press conference to inform her of the program's decision.
Utah State isn't a job that will have half the country clamoring for an interview, so it's an announcement that certainly could have waited until after the team had time to digest the end of its season.
Aggies players likewise found out about Ard's dismissal during the press conference, so that's another factor that was not considered in the timing.
Sabau is in her first stint as an athletics director after previously spending time as the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Sports Officer for the Big Ten Conference.
