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Basketball head coaches prepare for new seasons

Men’s Basketball head coach Stew Morrill and Women’s Basketball head coach Jerry Finkbeiner are preparing to continue legacies of success in the Utah State basketball programs.

Coach Morrill is at the start of his 29th season as a collegiate head coach and his 17th year at Utah State. He is Utah State’s most-winning coach, as he exceeded E. Lowell Romney’s 225-win record on Jan. 17, 2008, with an 82-78 win against Boise State.

Morrill began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Gonzaga from 1975-78. He then moved to Montana, where he worked as an assistant until 1986 and took over Montana’s program in 1987. He moved to Colorado State in 1992 and became the head man at USU following the 1998 season.

After stints in the Big West and Western Athletic Conference, the Mountain West became the third conference Morrill has led USU into beginning with the 2013-14 season.

In 16 years, he has led the team to 14 straight 21-win seasons, which is a school record. Before his current run, Utah State never had more than three 20-win seasons.

In the 2010-11 season, Morrill lead the Aggies to their fourth-straight regular season WAC Championship. Under Morrill, Utah State has advanced to the NCAA tournament eight times.

During his collegiate playing career, Morrill was named All-American at Ricks Junior College and a two-time All-Big Sky selection at Gonzaga. After college, he played professionally in Europe.

Morrill was born in 1952 in Provo, Utah. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Gonzaga University in 1974. He and his wife, Vicki, have four grown children: sons, Jesse and Allan, and daughters, Nicole and Tiffany.

Coach Finkbeiner is entering his fourth year as the Utah State Women’s basketball head coach. He is the ninth head coach and second male coach since the women’s basketball program was started in 1990. He is only the second coach to hold the position since the program was reinstated in 2003.

Last season, Finkbeiner led the team to a 15-16 record. The Aggies advanced to the second round of the Mountain West Championship tournament.

In Finkbeiner’s first season, USU had an 18-14 record, finished second in the WAC standings for a consecutive season and ranked second in the nation in free-throw percentage.

Finkbeiner is from Southern California. He attended Southern Nazarene in Oklahoma from 1975-80. He was selected as a Christian Collegiate All-American in 1978. He graduated with a bachelors degree in physical education and received his master’s degree in physical education from Northwest Missouri State University. He and his wife, Reva, have five children. His son, Ben, is an assistant coach for Utah State.

— olivia.webb@aggiemail.usu.edu