In his own words

226.

For USU head coach Stew Morrill, that’s a number he hasn’t been too willing to talk about.

But after he got win No. 226, passing E. Lowell Romney as Utah State’s winningest head coach, it was a subject, he couldn’t duck any longer.

“I tried to figure out why I avoided talking about (the record) so much with (the media),” Morrill told reports after the record-setting win. “What I came to the conclusion of, is that for 33 years I’ve coached a team sport and you always talk ‘we,’ you don’t talk about me. You talk about your program. You talk about everybody together, and it’s hard for me to reflect on something individually that’s happened, because that’s the way it’s always been approached, it’s our program.

“The other thing I’d say, I honest to goodness, never thought that my job was any different than anyone else’s except being more public. It’s not more important.”

Morrill compared his job to his father’s 35 years of loading furniture and driving truck, saying his dad did it to provide for those ones he loved-which is exactly what Morrill said about his career as a coach.

No doubt it was an emotional time for newly crowned USU wins leader. But even after the roar of “Stew” being chanted by thousands of fans stopped echoing off the Spectrum walls, Morrill still kept his composure in front of reporters.

“You shouldn’t cry in front of the media only once every 10 years,” he said without a hint of a tear. “That’s another reason I didn’t talk about it until now. You reflect on all the people who have contributed to these 10 years.”

He mentioned his assistant coaches, especially Don Verlin, who has been with Morrill all 10 years at USU and 15 years overall.

“He’s put up with about as much as my wife,” Morrill said of Verlin.

He also talked about his family, who’ve put up with the tough schedule of a coach, and his former players.

“You reflect on all of that and, you know, that’s why I only wanted to talk about it once – so I just did. Can we talk about the game now?” Morrill said.

Even though he was done talking about the record Thursday night, that doesn’t mean Morrill won’t do some thinking about it on his own.

“I’ll reflect on it, anybody that tells you they don’t, they’re is probably lying, because it’s human nature,” he said.

There’s a lot to reflect on – eight-straight postseason appearances, eight-straight 23-win seasons and 226 wins-and counting. But it all started off with a simple goal.

“When I came here, I told my assistants, ‘We can’t fail here. I’m going home. We can’t fail here,'” Morrill said. “Somebody could still call it a failure, but it’s a little harder now.”

-da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu