Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Legacy of Stew Morrill

Stew Morrill retired this year from coaching at Utah State.  He made basketball at Utah State fun again, as his team was always in the game, and you knew if things fell the right way they would pull out another victory.  Morrill won more games as a basketball coach at Utah State than any other coach, coached more seasons, went to more NCAA tournament and post season tournaments than any other coach.  He also had the most 20-win seasons.  His was a legend of success.  From last year’s press guid we read:
While at Utah State, he has guided the Aggies to a 21-win season a total of 14 times, as USU's 13 straight postseason appearances (NCAA-8, NIT-4, CIT-1), was snapped in 2012-13, but both of which are school records. Prior to Morrill's run, USU had never posted more than three-straight 20-win seasons and participated in more than three-straight postseason tournaments.
Morrill has also led Utah State to the sixth-best winning percentage in the nation during the last 14 years at 73.9 percent with an overall record of 369-130. Against conference opponents, Utah State has a 219-82 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 15 years.
The recent Utah State magazine in an article by Jeff Hunter noted that he ended with 401 wins as a head coach at Utah State (a school record) and 620 total.  620 puts him at 81 on the all-time list.
Morrill retires with 40 total years coaching, 29 at the NCAA Division I level.  He coached at Montana, Colorado State, and the past 17 years at Utah State. 

 Pictures scanned from Utah State magazine

2 comments:

  1. Aileen Winn Lee He was the best!

    Gary Craw LaDell Anderson was a great one too!
    As many may recall, he coached some great Aggie Teams in the 60's & 70's and eventually the Utah Stars.

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  2. Bill Egelund Load mouthed, foul mouthed, verbally abusive !! Coaching is more than winning ! I watched him in action & felt so sorry for his players.

    ReplyDelete