
AP Photo/Nevada Appeal, Kevin Clifford
slideshow
LOGAN, Utah For the second time this week, Utah State men¹s basketball coach Stew Morrill is up for a national honor, as he is one of 12 finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award it was announced on Friday. Morrill is also a finalist for the Henry Iba Award.
The Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award is given annually to a Division I head coach who best represents the high standards of the coaching profession. Winning with integrity. The award was established by CollegeInsider.com and the Prosser Family.
The award is named in memory of former Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser who passed away suddenly on July 26, 2007.
Other finalists include Jim Calhoun (Connecticut), Jeff Capel (Oklahoma), Ed Conroy (The Citadel), Ed DeChellis (Penn State), Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh), Dino Gaudio (Wake Forest), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Trent Johnson (LSU), Lon Kruger (UNLV), Billy Lange (Navy), and Bruce Weber (Illinois).
Morrill has led Utah State to a 26-4 overall record this year and its second straight Western Athletic Conference regular season championship, including its first outright league title, as USU is currently 13-2 in the WAC. Utah State was also ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation for three straight weeks in February and climbed as high as 17th in the country in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
During Morrill's tenure, Utah State has won at least a share of five regular season league titles to go along with four tournament championships. Utah State also owns the nation¹s fourth-best winning percentage during the last 10 years (.763), and has posted 10 straight 23-win seasons and advanced to nine straight postseasons (5-NCAA, 4-NIT), both of which are school records.
Morrill, who is in his 11th year at Utah State and 23rd season as a collegiate head coach, has a 263-90 (.745) record with the Aggies and a 481-228 (.678) overall mark. Among active Division I coaches, Morrill ranks 22nd in the nation in wins and 27th in winning percentage. He is also one of just 33 active coaches with 400 career victories and one of just 13 active coaches to post 20 or more wins at least 14 times.
As a collegiate head coach, Morrill has been named conference coach of the year three times, winning the award in 1991 while at Montana, and in 2000 and 2002 when Utah State was a member of the Big West Conference.
-USU-