Stew Morrill’s influence six years post retirement
Utah State’s berth in the NCAA Tournament this season is years of hard work trying to climb up the ladder of college athletics summed up in one word. Insurance.
When the Aggies joined the Mountain West they, of course, had the goal of winning championships. That may have been the goal, but it was not the primary reason they joined. The Aggies didn’t need championships, they already had them. What they needed was a contingency plan, a resume enhancer and national recognition. The Aggies needed — and deserved — a way to have a successful season that wasn’t defined by a single game in a conference tournament.
Under legendary head coach Stew Morrill, Utah State spent years winning conference championships or going to the NIT. There really wasn’t much in between. The Aggies were a dominant basketball program trapped in one-bid leagues. When it came to tournament play, it was win or go home — or in this case — to the NIT. Before the Mountain West, Utah State could basically throw their resume in the trash if they didn’t earn an automatic bid.
The 2003-04 season perfectly demonstrated the glaring need for an upgrade in conference. The Aggies, coached by Morrill, were competing in the Big West at the time and finished the regular season 25-2, ranked No. 21 in the country. Cal State Northridge upset Utah State in the first round of the Big West tournament. They did not receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament. This was the last time a team finished the season ranked in the top 25 and failed to receive a bid to the tournament.
In 12 years in the Big West, Utah State earned five bids to the NCAA Tournament and two to the NIT. Despite never having a losing record, consistently being at the top of the conference, and routinely playing in the championship or semifinals, the Aggies did not receive a single at-large bid.
In 2006, Utah State accepted a long-overdue invitation to the WAC. Upon arrival, the Utah State basketball squad was immediately rewarded with an at-large bid after welcoming themselves to the conference with a 23-8 overall and 11-5 in-conference record. It was an upgrade, but a minor one. Certainly the WAC helped in many ways, including revenue, recruiting and national attention, but the WAC was still generally a one-bid lead. The WAC lacked insurance for the Aggies; still missing was that much-needed assurance that if they were to ever slip up they would still have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.
The national attention that came from the WAC helped secure a total of two at-large bids in eight years. Additionally, while in the WAC, the Aggies also earned two automatic bids and two invites to the NIT. Again, however, the Aggies outgrew the conference.
This time, bolstered by the resurgence of the football program, Utah State was invited to the Mountain West, a legitimate multi-bid league with national respect. The university vice president and director of athletics at the time, Scott Barnes, said of the move, “Our student-athletes now have the opportunity to compete and grow on a much larger national stage.” Barnes was not wrong. The Mountain West certainly is a much larger stage and it comes with much more opportunity.
When the Aggies, along with San Jose State, joined the conference in time for the 2013 season, the MWC was well established as a multi-bid league. The MWC hiccuped just a bit during the realignment, partially due to the fact that two of the better basketball programs were leaving. BYU and Utah left in 2011 and TCU in 2012, Boise State joined in 2011 and Fresno and Nevada followed in 2012 (Hawaii also joined as a football-only school at the same time). Although the conference was going through an extensive renovation, it was far from being in shambles. In 2013, just prior to the Aggies joining and in the midst of realignment, the Mountain West peaked with five bids. Before that, the league was usually getting between two and three teams into the tournament. The league earned two, three and then just one bid in subsequent years. Those back-to-back years of only receiving the automatic bid were two of only three times it has happened. It happened only once before and hasn’t happened since.
As will be demonstrated once again in the coming days, being in the Mountain West certainly didn’t hurt in the hiring process of the elite squad of coaches John Hartwell has assembled, most of whom were hired at the Mountain West level. Seven of the nine head coaches currently at Utah State were hired after Utah State joined the conference, which doesn’t include Amy Smith of gymnastics who competes in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics conference and was hired in 2017. That will once again be proven as Hartwell looks to fill a new vacancy at the helm of men’s basketball. This new coach, taking over what was once Stew Morrill’s program, will be tasked with carrying on his legacy, and will be measured against the backdrop of the accomplishments coach Morrill accumulated navigating this program from the Big West to the WAC and then to the Mountain West. Morrill, who was hired in 1998, set an impressive precedent and created a culture at the program in such a way that even when he left in 2015, the program was in a better spot for Tim Dureya, Craig Smith and the upcoming coach of the Aggies.
An increased level of competition and national viewership also allowed Utah State athletes to better showcase their talents and helped the Aggies produce a first round pick in the 2020 NFL draft pick in Jordan Love as well as 2020 NBA Draft pick, Sam Merrill.
Even within the basketball program, the at-large bid is not the only benefit. In 2019, Utah State basketball secured one of the best recruiting classes in program history, No. 65 in the nation. Even as a perennial conference champion, during their time in the Big West and WAC, the Aggies’ dominant basketball program was routinely beat out by larger schools in the recruiting battle. Credited largely to their creativity and coaching, Utah State put together impressive teams, but struggled to reel in top-tier recruits. The Aggies recruiting classes consistently ranked two to three hundred in the nation. There was an immediate difference in recruiting when Utah State moved to the MW. In fact, once the Aggies joined the Mountain West, their worst — and only recruiting class above 200 — was the very first one. After that, they immediately rose to 117 and have spent the rest of their time in the conference at or near the top 100 in the nation, peaking at No. 65 nationally and first in the conference in 2019.
Morrill recognized the hard work that took Utah State on a journey from the Big West all the way to the Mountain West and understood what this move meant for his basketball team. At the time he said, “This is a great day for Utah State and an exciting and challenging move for our programs. President Stan Albrecht and Director of Athletics Scott Barnes deserve lots of props for their efforts that made this move possible. In basketball, we will be competing in a high-level conference with very good teams… It’s certainly been an amazing journey from the Big West to the WAC and now to the Mountain West”
This year, the Aggies finished the season at 18-7 overall and 15-4 in conference, finishing second in the regular season. In the conference tournament, the Aggies came up just short of the title, losing to the regular season champion in the final game. Even without earning the automatic bid, the Aggies were invited to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed. This resume is certainly impressive, and there is no doubt that Utah State deserves a spot in the tournament, but in past seasons, or more accurately, in past conferences, this would simply not be enough. Coming in second in both the regular season and the conference tournament with an 18-7 and 15-4 record in the WAC or the Big West would not be enough for an at-large bid. This is why being in the mountain west is so important.
Morrill foresaw the upside potential of this program. The at-large bid the Aggies earned wasn’t just a recognition of the hard work the team has put in this year, it was the culmination of decades of hard work on behalf of the entire program, starting with Morrill. It means the plan is working and that Utah State is indeed on the upward trajectory that was promised when the Aggies joined the conference in 2013.
—sports@usustatesman.com
@pshark14