Hall of Fame
STEW MORRILL
Hometown: Provo, Utah
Sport: Head Men's Basketball Coach
Years: 1999-2015
Stew Morrill's name is synonymous with the success of Utah State men's basketball. Morrill, who was hired as Utah State's 17th head coach on Aug. 7, 1998, guided the Aggie program to 14 straight seasons with at least 21 wins from 2000 to 2013 and 13 straight postseason appearances (NCAA-8, NIT-4, CIT-1) from 2000 to 2012, both of which are school records. Prior to Morrill's run, USU had never posted more than three-straight 20-win seasons and had never participated in more than three-straight postseason appearances. Along the way, Morrill led Utah State to seven conference championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), including four-straight in the Western Athletic Conference from 2008-11, and six conference postseason titles (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011), while posting 12 of the top 13 seasons in school history in terms of wins. For all of his success, Morrill was named conference coach of the year five times during his Utah State tenure, winning the Big West honor in 2000 and 2002, while being named the WAC's Coach of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Morrill was also nationally recognized during his time at USU as he was named the 2011 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. Morrill, who is the Aggies' all-time winningest coach with 402 victories, is also the school record holder in career games coached at 558, and ranks as the second-longest tenured head basketball coach in school history. During his 17 years at Utah State, Morrill's team's recorded an amazing 402-156 (.720) record, which included a 204-81 (.716) conference mark. USU also posted an unbelievable 248-32 (.886) home record under Morrill, which included a 122-22 (.847) mark in conference play. Morrill's teams also went 46-20 (.697) against in-state opponents during his 17 years and recorded a 26-11 (.702) record in conference tournaments. At Utah State, Morrill coached four different players who earned All-American honors five times in Tony Brown (2001), Jaycee Carroll, (2007, 2008), Gary Wilkinson (2009) and Tai Wesley (2011), while Carroll (2008), Wilkinson (2009) and Wesley (2011) were all named WAC Players of the Year. Furthermore, Carroll became the school's all-time scoring leader with 2,522 points and set 10 school records under Morrill, the most by any player in Aggie history. Overall, Morrill coached 15 first-team all-league players at Utah State who won the award a total of 21 times and 22 players who earned various all-conference honors a total of 36 times, while 22 players earned academic all-conference honors a total of 38 times under Morrill's leadership. In just his second season as Utah State's head coach during the 1999-2000 season, Morrill guided the Aggies to a 28-6 record, including a perfect 16-0 mark in the Big West Conference, setting school records for overall and conference wins. During the season, USU also set the school record for consecutive wins as it won 19 straight games. The following season, Morrill again led Utah State to a 28-6 record and its second-straight conference tournament championship, followed by the school's first NCAA Tournament win in 31 years after posting a 77-68 overtime victory against Ohio State. Morrill's 2003-04 squad was his first of three nationally-ranked teams, as that group was ranked for five weeks and climbed as high as 19th in the nation in The Associated Press poll, its first ranking in the AP poll since 1971. The 2003-04 team finished the season with a 25-4 record and went 17-1 in Big West play to set the school record for conference wins. Utah State's most successful run under Morrill was from 2008 to 2011 as the Aggies won four-straight WAC titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three straight years from 2009 to 2011. Along with winning the WAC's regular season and tournament championship during the 2008-09 season, Morrill's team also set the school record for victories as it finished the year with a 30-5 record and was nationally ranked for back-to-back weeks, climbing as high as No. 19 in the AP poll. Two years later, the 2010-11 team again won the WAC's regular season and tournament championships after posting a 30-4 record to tie the school record for wins. The 2010-11 team was also nationally ranked for the final nine weeks of the season and finished the year ranked No. 25 in the nation in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, marking the first time since 1978 and only the eighth time in school history that an Aggie team was nationally ranked at the end of the year. Along with having three different nationally-ranked teams, Morrill also had three of the best offensive teams in the nation during his tenure at Utah State as his teams led the country in field goal percentage during the 2004-05 (.525), 2007-08 (.514) and 2008-09 (.496) seasons, while the 2007-08 team also led the nation in free throw shooting (.792). Overall, Morrill coached for 40 seasons, including 29 as a head coach with stops at Montana and Colorado State prior to taking over at Utah State and is among the top-50 in NCAA history with 620 career victories. During his illustrious career, Morrill won 20 or more games on 18 different occasions and was involved in postseason action 16 times as he won seven coach of the year awards in three different conferences.
