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Head Coach (Entering 12th Season at Utah State) Alma Mater (Gonzaga, 1974) Record at Utah State (267-91, .746) Overall Record (485-229, .673, 23 Seasons)
Entering his 24th season as a collegiate head coach and 12th 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 USU wins on Jan. 17, 2008 with an 82-78 win against Boise State. In 11 years as Utah State's head coach, Morrill has taken the Aggie Basketball program to unprecedented heights leading USU to an incredible 267-91 (.746) record, including a 138-46 (.750) conference mark in the Big West and WAC. While at Utah State, he has guided the Aggies to 10-straight 23-win seasons and 10-straight postseason appearances (NCAA-6, 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 10 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 nine years at 76.4 percent with an overall record of 252-78. Against conference opponents, Utah State has a 159-52 record with five regular season league championships and five tournament titles during that time, including appearances in its league's tournament championship game eight times in the last 10 years. Under Morrill, Utah State has notched 10 of the top 12 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 and set a new school record with 30 wins in 2009. During the 2008-09 season, Morrill guided Utah State to its second-straight WAC regular season championship, including its first outright title with a 14-2 record, its first WAC Tournament championship, and the school's 18th NCAA Tournament appearance. USU also won 24 of its first 25 games for the best start to a season in school history, tied the school record for consecutive wins with 19, and was ranked in the top 25 for three-straight weeks during the month of February, marking just the second time in the last 31 years that a USU team has been nationally ranked. Furthermore, the 2008-09 Aggie basketball team led the nation in overall shooting at 49.6 percent and became just the eighth team in the history of the NCAA to lead the nation in field goal shooting in consecutive seasons, and the first since UCLA accomplished the feat in 1996 and 1997. The Aggies also ranked among the top 18 in the nation in eight other statisitical categories including fifth in winning percentage (.857), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44), and 10th in fewest turnovers committed per game (11.2). For the 10th-straight year, USU had at least one player earn first-team all-league accolades as senior forward Gary Wilkinson became just the fifth player in school history to earn conference player of the year honors. Wilkinson was also named the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 WAC Tournament and was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press. Morrill was also honored during the 2008-09 seasons and was named the WAC Coach of the Year, as well as being named the District VIII Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association. All-time, Morrill has been named Coach of the Year (2000 BWC, 2002 BWC, 2009 WAC) three times in his 11 years at USU, along with winning the Big Sky award while the head coach at Montana in 1991. Overall, Morrill has coached 11 first-team all-league players at Utah State who have won the award a total of 16 times. Morrill has taken full advantage of the home court at USU, the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. In Morrill's 11 years, USU is an amazing 159-12 (.930) at home, which includes an 84-8 (.913) record in league play. As for Morrill, he has won 20 or more games on 14 different occasions during his career and has won at least 17 games 20 times. Overall, Morrill ranks 22nd in the nation among active coaches and 88th all-time with his 485 career wins, while his career winning percentage of 67.9 percent ranks 27th among active coaches and 96th all-time. He is also one of 24 active coaches with 450 career wins at the Division I level and one of just 12 active coaches to notch at least 14 20-win seasons. His current streak of 10 straight 20-win seasons ranks tied for eighth among active coaches and is tied for the 11th-longest streak ever 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 11 years, Morrill has graduated better than 80 percent of his players, and over the past seven years, Utah State has had 17 academic all-conference honorees. Morrill, who was born in Provo, Utah and attended Provo High School, owns a career record of 485-229 in 23 years of collegiate coaching, including a 267-91 record at Utah State in 11 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 57-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 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 (31) and Allan (29) and daughters Nicole (26) and Tiffany (23), and four grandchildren.
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