Entering his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach and 11th year at Utah State, Stew Morrill has established himself as one of the most respected coaches in the country. He is also the school’s all-time winningest coach as he passed the legendary E. Lowell Romney’s 225 career wins on Jan. 17, 2008 with an 82-78 win against Boise State. In 10 years as Utah State’s head coach, Morrill has taken the Aggie Basketball program to unprecedented heights leading USU to an incredible 237-86 (.734) record, including a 124-44 (.738) conference mark in the Big West and WAC. While at Utah State, he has guided the Aggies to nine straight 20-win seasons and nine straight postseason appearances (NCAA-5, NIT-4), both of which are school records. Prior to coach Morrill’s current run, USU had never posted more than three straight 20-win seasons and participated in more than three straight postseason tournaments. During the last nine years, Utah State is also one of just three teams in the nation to win at least 23 games in each of those seasons, along with Gonzaga and Kansas. Morrill has also led Utah State to the fifth-best winning percentage in the nation during the last nine years at 75.3 percent with an overall record of 222-73. Against conference opponents, Utah State has a 142-50 record with four regular season league championships and four tournament titles during that time, including appearances in its league’s tournament championship game seven times in the last nine years. Under Morrill, Utah State has notched nine of the top 11 seasons in school history during the last nine years as the Aggies set a school record with 28 wins during the 2000 season, tied that record with 28 wins during the 2001 season and notched the fifth-most wins in school history during the 2008 season with 24 victories. During the 2007-08 season, Morrill guided Utah State to a share of its first-ever WAC regular season championship in just its third year in the league with a 12-4 record, followed by an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. USU also recorded 23-plus wins for the ninth straight season and participated in its ninth straight postseason tournament as it played at Illinois State in the National Invitation Tournament. Furthermore, the 2007-08 Aggie basketball team set a school record by shooting 79.2 percent from the free throw line to lead the nation. USU also led the nation in overall shooting at 51.4 percent and became just the fourth team in the history of the NCAA to lead the nation in both field goal and free throw shooting. The Aggies also ranked eighth nationally in assists (17.7) and ninth in three-point shooting (40.1), and led the WAC in points allowed per game (68.1). For the ninth straight year, USU had at least one player earn first-team all-league accolades as senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll became just the fourth player in school history to earn conference player of the year honors. Carroll was also named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press for the second straight year, becoming the first player in school history to be recognized by the AP in consecutive seasons. Overall, Morrill has coached 10 first-team all-league players at Utah State who have won the award a total of 15 times. Morrill has also taken full advantage of the home court at USU, the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. In Morrill’s 10 years, USU is an amazing 142-12 (.922) at home, which includes a 76-8 (.905) record in league play. As for Morrill, he has won 20 or more games on 13 different occasions during his career, and he has won at least 17 games 19 times. Overall, Morrill ranks 23rd in the nation among active coaches and 96th all-time with his 455 career wins, while his career winning percentage of 67.0 percent ranks 28th among active coaches and 100th all-time. He is also one of 27 active coaches with 400 career wins at the Division I level and one of just 13 active coaches to notch at least 13 20-win seasons. His current streak of nine straight 20-win seasons ranks ninth among active coaches and is tied for the 13th-longest streak ever at the Division I level. Morrill has also been named Coach of the Year (2000 BWC, 2002 BWC) twice in his eight years at USU, along with winning the Big Sky award while the head coach at Montana in 1991. Academics and community service have been of top priority to Morrill and his staff as all of the team members are involved with USU’s CHAMPS/Life Skills Program within the community. In his first 10 years, Morrill has graduated better than 85 percent of his players, and over the past six years, Utah State has had 11 academic all-conference honorees. Morrill, who was born in Provo, Utah and attended Provo High School, owns a career record of 455-224 in 22 years of collegiate coaching, including a 237-86 record at Utah State in 10 years, a 121-86 record in seven years at Colorado State (1992-98) and a 97-52 mark in five campaigns at Montana (1987-91). “There are several reasons that I was attracted to Utah State,” Morrill said when he was hired. “The first was being a Utah native so that it is a homecoming of sorts for me. My mom, brother and sister all live within an hour and a half of Logan. “I am very familiar with the tradition of Utah State basketball and can name the greats as well as any alumni could,” Morrill added. “It is a good basketball situation and the premier job in the Big West Conference. My family will love the quality of the community of Logan. It is a great place to live and that is very important to me and my family. It just made sense to us.” The 55-year old ranks second on the CSU victory list and second in winning percentage. He guided the Rams to back-to-back 20-win seasons the last two years in Fort Collins, with identical 20-9 marks. During the 1997-98 season, CSU made its second trip to the NIT in the last three years. Morrill guided CSU to two of its six all-time 20-win seasons and won at least 17 games five times in his seven years. In fact, Morrill-led CSU teams own three of the top seven winning seasons in school history. During his tenure at Colorado State, he coached three first-team all-WAC selections, one second-team pick and six honorable mention choices. Three of his players were named to the WAC all-tournament team. After his collegiate playing career, which included being named an All-American at nearby Ricks (Idaho) Junior College and a two-time all-Big Sky selection at Gonzaga, Morrill played professionally in Europe. His coaching career began as an assistant at Gonzaga from 1975-78 and then to Montana where he was an assistant from 1979-86 working for Mike Montgomery, who spent 17 years as the head coach at Stanford. Montgomery worked under Jim Brandenburg and Jud Heathcote, who retired after a successful career, which included a national championship at Michigan State. Morrill took over the Montana program in 1987 before moving to Colorado State in 1992. He is known for his deep-rooted values, consistency, hard work, dedication, honesty, integrity and concern for the welfare of his student-athletes. Morrill earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Gonzaga in 1974. He was born July 25, 1952 in Provo, Utah. He and his wife Vicki have four children; sons Jesse (30) and Allan (28) and daughters Nicole (25) and Tiffany (22).
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