Morrill in running for national coaching award
With all the national attention the USU men’s basketball team has been receiving this season, it’s only fitting that the man behind it all be recognized as well. After leading the Aggies to a 26-4 start, head coach Stew Morrill has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2009 Henry Iba Award.
The finalists for the award, which is given annually to the national coach of the year, were announced Monday by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
“It is something that is a positive and you feel honored to be included with that group. It is not something I reflect a lot on,” Morrill said. “You never think you are coaching that well. It is a tough profession and you always second guess everything you do. I’ve been doing it for a lot of years and it is an honor for sure.”
During the 2008-09 season Morrill led the Aggies to their best start in school history, 24-1, and their second consecutive regular season WAC title. He also led USU to an appearance in the Top-25 rankings for only the second time in the last 31 years – both during his tenure.
In his 11 seasons at the Aggie helm Morrill has become the winningest coach in school history, compiling a record of 263-90 (.745). He has been especially deadly in the Spectrum, as the Aggies are an amazing 158-12 (.929) on their home court.
Despite the national recognition, winning is nothing new to Morrill at USU. For 10 consecutive seasons he has led the Aggies to at least 23 wins a season, a feat matched only by Kansas and Gonzaga. Overall, USU has the fourth-highest winning percentage in the country over the past decade.
Morrill has also led the Aggies to nine straight postseason appearances, as they made the NCAA tournament five times while being invited the NIT tournament four times. By wrapping up the regular season WAC crown last week, the Ags also ensured themselves of a 10th straight trip to postseason play as the regular season conference champ gets an automatic bid to the NIT tournament if they are left out of the NCAA’s.
Before coming to Utah State, Morrill was a head coach at Montana and Colorado State. He has received multiple conference coach of the year awards over the years, including 1991 at Montana and 2000, and 2002 with the Aggies. All told, Morrill has spent 23 years as a Division I head coach and has amassed a 481-228 record (.678).
Those numbers leave the Utah native ranked 22nd in wins among active coaches and 27th in winning percentage.
This year’s award will be presented on April 3 during the USBWA’s annual awards breakfast at the downtown Detroit Athletic Club. Every member of the association – just shy of 800 journalists – will vote the award.
The Aggies have one regular season game remaining as they host San Jose State Saturday. With that on the schedule and the upcoming WAC tournament on the horizon, it can be expected that the gravel-voiced coach will have more important things on his mind than individual honors.
“You always want to protect your home court,” he said. “We have only had something like four undefeated home seasons in history. If we could put together back-to-back that would be special.”
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