The Utah State Aggies have gone 393-149 since 1998 and during that span have only had one coach. Legendary Aggies' coach Stew Morrill announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. The 62 year old Morrill has been part of the game for 40 years now, 29 as a head coach and 17 of those at Utah State. During that span he also coached Montana, Colorado State, while appearing in 9 NCAA tournaments. It will be weird not to see Morrill on the sidelines anymore, Utah State director of athletics Scott Barnes knows this as he said, "Stew Morrill is synonymous with Utah State Basketball and will go down as the greatest coach to ever walk up and down the sidelines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum." This is a very bold statement but is very true. Morrill will go down as the greatest Aggies' coach of all-time and will probably will never be matched. To me the biggest surprise is that he never left for a bigger school, he coached three mid-major schools throughout his entire career. I always have more respect for coaches who do that, as I understand how it is a bigger challenge recruiting at a smaller school. It will be weird not to see him on the sidelines after this season, however it may be the right time to walk away. The Aggies went 18-14 last year with a disappointing 7-11 conference record and are just 9-7 this year. Utah State has not looked very good this year and are currently on a two game skid. I wish Utah State was better this year so Morrill could have one more shot in the tournament. Morrill never made it past the second round even though he had some very talented teams, one that went 30-3, that may be a reason why he never went to a bigger school. Either way Morrill has been a legendary coach, one who hasn't had the coverage Coach K or coaches at bigger schools have had. I hope people realize what he did for this University and basketball program. Stew Morrill talked about his retirement saying, "I am looking forward to the remainder of this season, but then I believe the Utah State Basketball program will benefit by having a new 'voice' as its head coach." Morrill continued by saying, "Many thanks to the University president Stan Albrecht, vice president and director of athletics Scott Barnes, all of my assistants through the years, all the young men who have played for me as their coach, and of course the wonderful boosters and fans who have supported our program." Morrill is one of the greatest college basketball coaches ever and he put Utah State on the map in the basketball world. This is a huge loss to Utah State Basketball and the whole basketball community. Morrill deserves to be able to spend time with his family and relax, however, he will be dearly missed from the game and who ever replaces him will have huge shoes to fill.
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