Logan, Utah has a new resident.

And it’s not NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell.

Utah State University was in search of an athletic director over the holidays.

O’Dell was one of four finalists for the USU position. Joining him were Charles Johnson, an assistant athletic director at Miami, Fla., Richard McDuffey, the athletic director at Southeast Missouri State, and Chuck Bell, an associate athletic director at Colorado State.

Bell was given the reins and will now work with O’Dell, in a matter of speaking, since the Huskies will join the Aggies along with ten other teams in the Big West Conference for the 1993-94 football season.

It would have been an interesting move for O’Dell since Utah State claims only 13,777 as its enrollment, a little more than half of NIU’s population.

Also, with NIU’s involvement in the Big West consortium on the horizon, O’Dell’s interest leaves many questions unanswered.

Unfortunately, O’Dell was unavailable for comment.

He is attending the annual NCAA Convention in Dallas, Texas this week.

This is the second time since September that O’Dell has looked elsewhere. Previously, it was said that he was interested in the Purdue University athletic director opening early in the school year.

There was word from the Utah State sports information office that O’Dell possibly withdrew from the running for the command of the athletic department but confirmation on that news was not possible.