He said: "The clear message that I plan to convey is: If you're cheating, get out.

 

"If we don't address it - and address it in an aggressive, impassioned way - it's going to choke the life out of the sport."

 

Logan, the former commissioner and president of Major League Soccer (MLS), replaces Craig Masback, who left USATF in January.

 

The US has one of the worst reputations in the world when it comes to doping.

 

Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, two of the sport's biggest stars, are currently serving prison sentences after being implicated in major doping scandals.

 

Logan said; "There is a large universe to it.

 

"I certainly hope that I can put my name on the roster of those people that are not only trying but actually making a difference with regard to ridding ourselves of this horrible, horrible plague that exists on all of the sports these days."

 

Logan led MLS from its startup year in 1995 through 1999.

 

He helped secure several long-term sponsorship commitments and negotiated a five-year television deal.

 

He is hoping to apply what he learned at MLS to track.

 

Logan said: "As opposed to soccer, track and field is not seen as something that is 'foreign.'

 

"It's seen as something that is native and a red-blooded American pastime.

 

"In certain ways, it's an easier sell than the sell we had with soccer."

 

Logan attended the recent Olympic trials in Eugene - a trip that convinced him on track and field's potential.

 

He said: "I've been to 11 Super Bowls and a lot of big-time competition.

 

"From the standpoint of the drama of competition and the involvement of the fan base and the festival-like spirit that existed out there, that was as magical an experience as any Super Bowl or World Cup or US Open that I've been to.

 

"It was just marvelous."

 

But Logan acknowledges that right now fast times on the track sometimes are viewed with scepticism.

 

He said: "It's a crying shame [athletes] have to be viewed underneath this tent of suspicion that we've got over any remarkable achievement that occurs.

 

"What we have to do is change this horrible climate of suspicion that exists over performance.

 

"If you're suggesting as a coach or as an agent or as a personal manager to a young person to use some of these substances: Get out.

 

"We will find ways of getting these people out of the sport.

 

"What we need to do is create an environment where the young man or woman four lockers down -- that knows a person is dirty - starts to feel they are comfortable to express their disdain for that individual.

 

"[We need to] be supportive of the 95, 96, 97 per cent of those who are competing in a fair way and in a clean way."