Stewart Morrill (born July 25, 1952) is an American former college basketball coach and the former head coach of the Utah State University men's basketball team.

Biography

Morrill was an All-American at Ricks College and a two-time All-Big Sky selection for Gonzaga University. He started his coaching career in 1974 as an assistant at Gonzaga, and continued at the University of Montana under Mike Montgomery in 1978. In the spring of 1986, he was promoted to head coach of the Grizzlies, and led them to an NCAA berth in 1991. Morrill coached at Colorado State University from 1991 to 1998 before resigning to go to Utah State.

Morrill and Utah State gained national attention in March 2001 for their 77–68 upset of Ohio State in overtime in the NCAA tournament.

On January 17, 2008, in an 82–78 victory over Boise State, Morrill logged his 226th Aggie victory, passing E. Lowell Romney to become the winningest coach in Utah State basketball history.

Morrill has a record of 602–281 overall (.682), and 402–156 (.720) with Utah State. His 500th win came in January 2010 at Idaho, coached by his former assistant, Don Verlin. He has also racked up an incredible home record of 193–13 (.937) in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum as coach of the Aggies. Following a victory over San Jose State on March 9, 2009, Morrill became the only coach in Utah State history to have back-to-back undefeated seasons at home, extending the streak to 34 straight home wins. He is also the only Utah State coach to win thirty games in one season, a feat he accomplished in the 2008–09 season, and the 2010–11 season. During the 2009–10 season, he became the only Utah State basketball coach to win three straight regular season conference championships. The next year, he won his fourth straight regular season conference championship. Although he has a very impressive regular season record, he did not find success in the NCAA tournament, posting the second worst record, 1–9 (.100) for any coach that has made the NCAA tournament five or more times. He also has a record of 0–6 in the NIT.

With Morrill at the helm, the Aggies were one of only three Division I teams to have won at least 23 games from 1999 to 2011. The other schools are Gonzaga and Kansas. All throughout the 2000s and early 2010s under Morrill, Utah State (.764) had the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation behind Duke (.831), Kansas (.809) and Gonzaga (.799).

On January 9, 2015, USU announced that Morrill would retire at the end of the 2014–2015 season.

Head coaching record

Record table
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky Conference) (1987–1991)
1986–87Montana18–118–63rd
1987–88Montana18–117–9T–7th
1988–89Montana20–1111–53rd
1989–90Montana18–1110–63rd
1990–91Montana23–813–31stNCAA Division I First Round
Montana:97–52 (.651)49–29 (.628)
Colorado State Rams (Western Athletic Conference) (1991–1999)
1991–92Colorado State14–178–8T–8th
1992–93Colorado State17–129–95th
1993–94Colorado State15–138–10T–5th
1994–95Colorado State17–147–11T–8th
1995–96Colorado State18–1211–74thNIT first round
1996–97Colorado State20–910–64th (Pacific)
1997–98Colorado State20–98–64th (Mountain)NIT first round
Colorado State:121–86 (.585)61–57 (.517)
Utah State Aggies (Big West Conference) (1998–2005)
1998–99Utah State15–138–84th (Eastern)
1999–2000Utah State28–616–01st (Eastern)NCAA Division I First Round
2000–01Utah State28–613–32ndNCAA Division I Second Round
2001–02Utah State23–813–5T–1stNIT first round
2002–03Utah State24–912–63rdNCAA Division I First Round
2003–04Utah State25–417–1T–1stNIT first round
2004–05Utah State24–813–52ndNCAA Division I First Round
Utah State Aggies (Western Athletic Conference) (2005–2013)
2005–06Utah State23–911–5T–2ndNCAA Division I First Round
2006–07Utah State23–129–74thNIT first round
2007–08Utah State24–1112–4T–1stNIT first round
2008–09Utah State30–514–21stNCAA Division I First Round
2009–10Utah State27–814–21stNCAA Division I First Round
2010–11Utah State30–415–11stNCAA Division I First Round
2011–12Utah State21–168–64thCIT Runner-up
2012–13Utah State21–1011–7T–4th
Utah State Aggies (Mountain West Conference) (2013–2015)
2013–14Utah State18–147–11T–8th
2014–15Utah State18–1311–7T–4th
Utah State:402–156 (.720)204–80 (.718)
Total:620–294 (.678)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

See also