Stew Morrill
Overall Record (542-241, .692, 25 Seasons)
2009, 2010 & 2011 WAC Coach of the Year
Record at Utah State (324-103, .759)
Entering his 26th season as a collegiate head coach and 14th 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 13 years as Utah State’s head coach, Morrill has taken the Aggie Basketball program to unprecedented heights leading USU to an incredible 324-103 (.759) record, including a 167-49 (.773) mark in the Big West and Western Athletic Conferences.
During the last 12 years, Utah State is 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 fourth-best winning percentage in the nation during the last 12 years at 77.4 percent with an overall record of 309-90. Against conference opponents, Utah State has a 192-56 record with seven regular season league championships and six tournament titles during that time, including appearances in its league’s tournament championship game 10 times in the last 12 years.
Under Morrill, Utah State has notched 12 of the top 13 seasons in school history as the Aggies set a school record with 28 wins during the 2000 season, tied that record with 28 wins during the 2001 season, set a school record with 30 wins in 2009 and tied that record with 30 wins in 2011.
During the 2010-11 season, Morrill guided Utah State to its fourth-straight regular season WAC Championship, including its third-straight outright title with a 15-1 record. USU also won its second WAC Tournament title in the past three years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in school history.
Under Morrill, Utah State has appeared in the NCAA Tournament eight times, including each of the last three years marking only the second time in school history that USU has appeared in three-straight NCAA Tournaments joining the 1962, ’63 and ’64 teams.
Furthermore, the 2010-11 Aggie basketball team was nationally ranked for the last nine weeks of the season and finished the year ranked No. 25 in the country in final ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, marking the first time since the 1978 season and only the eighth time in school history that an Aggie team was nationally ranked at the end of the year.
For the 12th straight year, Utah State had at least one player earn first-team all-league accolades as senior forward Tai Wesley and junior guard Brockeith Pane were both named first-team all-WAC. Wesley also became the third Aggie in the last four years to be named the WAC’s Player of the Year, joining Jaycee Carroll (2008) and Gary Wilkinson (2009), and the third player in the last four years to earn Associated Press honorable mention All-America honors joining Carroll (2007, 2008) and Wilkinson (2009).
Utah State also had two other players honored by the WAC in 2011 as senior guard Brian Green was named to the league’s second-team, while senior guard Tyler Newbold was named to the league’s all-defensive team. Along with being named first-team all-WAC, Pane was named to the league’s all-newcomer team as well.
Pane was also named the Most Valuable Player of the 2011 WAC Tournament, while Wesley and fellow senior forward Nate Bendall were both named to the all-tournament team.
Overall, Morrill has coached 14 first-team all-league players at Utah State who have won the award a total of 20 times.
Morrill was also honored during the 2010-11 season and was named the WAC Coach of the Year for the third time in as many years. He was also named the 2011 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com and the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 6 Co-Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
All-time, Morrill has been named Coach of the Year (2000 BWC, 2002 BWC, 2009 WAC, 2010 WAC, 2011 WAC) five times in his 13 years at USU, along with winning the Big Sky award while the head coach at Montana in 1991.
Morrill has taken full advantage of the home court at USU, the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. In Morrill’s 13 years, USU is an amazing 193-13 (.937) at home, which includes a 100-8 (.926) record in league play.
As for Morrill, he has won 20 or more games on 16 different occasions during his career and has won at least 17 games 22 times.
Overall, Morrill ranks 16th in the nation among active coaches and 57th all-time with his 542 career wins, while his career winning percentage of 69.2 percent ranks 23rd among active coaches and 80th all-time. He is also one of 18 active coaches with 500 career wins at the Division I level and one of just 11 active coaches to notch at least 16 20-win seasons. His current streak of 12 straight 20-win seasons ranks tied for fifth among active coaches and is tied for the ninth-longest streak at the Division I level.
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 13 years, Morrill has graduated better than 80 percent of his players, and over the past nine years, Utah State has had 29 academic all-conference
Morrill, who was born in Provo, Utah and attended Provo High School, owns a career record of 512-237 in 24 years of collegiate coaching, including a 294-99 record at Utah State in 12 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 family 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 59-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-America 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 and is now the head coach at Cal. 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 and Allan, and daughters Nicole and Tiffany, and five grandchildren.
