Stew Morrill being pushed hard for head coach at Wazzu

[ChicosBailBonds]

George Raveling, among others, is pushing Morrill as the Wazzu coach.  ESPN's Colin Cowherd today called Morrill the best X's and O's coach in America but without any talent.  Interesting



http://blogs.krem.com/cougar/2009/04/thursday-latest-on-wsus-search.html



http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=137&f=1996&t=4173686



I don't think he leaves Logan, but good to see a few more folks recognize him as one of the better coaches in America.  Even identified as a "God in Logan"....that's almost "legendary" status.   

[4everwarriors]

Who? Oh yeah, I remember him. The Lens and I think the legend stays put.

[The Lens]

Chicos, just promise me the Legend doesn't let his players find out on the ESPN ticker, that's all I ask.

It's Wazzou, It's Wazzou

"As a middle-aged man coaching .500 ball at Colorado State I was moved to tears by the 1994 Cougar team"

[NavinRJohnson]

I agree he is a fine coach. I would suggest however that legendary coaches don't generally require 'pushing' by the likes of George Raveling and Colin Cowherd.

[NavinRJohnson]

"As a middle-aged man coaching .500 ball at Colorado State I was moved to tears by the 1994 Cougar team"

Dude...funny!

[ChicosBailBonds]

Who? Oh yeah, I remember him. The Lens and I think the legend stays put.

He probably will.  He's from Provo originally and his family roots will likely keep him there.


Though Andy Katz is also pimping him now

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4038108&name=katz_andy

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chicos, just promise me the Legend doesn't let his players find out on the ESPN ticker, that's all I ask.

It's Wazzou, It's Wazzou

"As a middle-aged man coaching .500 ball at Colorado State I was moved to tears by the 1994 Cougar team"

Since he left Colorado State, they haven't had a 20 win season.  The last two 20 win seasons.....coached by some guy named Morrill.   

He was UNLV's pick back when UNLV still had some cache a number of years ago, but he turned them down.  He's a Utah guy so I suspect he'll stay.

[jmayer1]

blah, blah, blah

Get over it Chico's.  When more than half the country has never heard of you (especially those that follow baskeball pretty closely), you're not a legend!!!  As I stated before, he's no more of a "legend" than Dick Bennett, who actually took a team to the Final Four, but I doubt many East costs fan have any clue who he is.

[rocky_warrior]

Buzz Williams: He can out-coach gods.

[The Lens]

(Next Nat'l Interview)

Talking Head:  Buzz, you had a top 10 team comprised of mostly juniors and seniors, injuries aside, it had to be disappointing not getting to the Sweet 16, at least.

Buzz:  For real?  Are you asking that question?  I slayed the dragon, baby.  I slayed the muther f'ing dragon!!!  Stewie Morrill went down and I toyed with him, gave up a lead, let him build one up and then I slayed him again.  The Legend went down, and he went down hard.  Disappointing?  Are you kidding me?  Did Jay Wright beat the Legend?  Did Izzo?  What about Calhoun or Deputy Dog?  What about Coach K or World Wide Wes, I mean Cal, did they slay the dragon?  The answer is NO.  The Legend went down and it's cause I put him there.  The season = success.

[ChicosBailBonds]

blah, blah, blah

Get over it Chico's.  When more than half the country has never heard of you (especially those that follow baskeball pretty closely), you're not a legend!!!  As I stated before, he's no more of a "legend" than Dick Bennett, who actually took a team to the Final Four, but I doubt many East costs fan have any clue who he is.

If you follow hoops and don't know who he is, then you don't follow hoops very closely.   And saying many East costs (sic) fans don't have a clue who he is doesn't resonate too much.  Most of those fans are tucked away in their jammies by the time any teams on the west coast play.  I doubt most of them even know Mike Montgomery is back coaching.  If it's PST or MST time zones, they don't care.  Doesn't make him any less of a coach.

I'll ask again, is Jim Phelan a legend?  How many people have heard of him?  Yet the man won 830 games (5th all time), coached more games than anyone in history, etc, etc.  Yet I'll bet most people have no clue who he is.  Yet he's most certainly a legend.  In this part of the country, Morrill is considered one of the best.  Glad to see he is getting some recognition right now nationally even if the bonafide "experts" here don't know who he is.   

[Pakuni]

(Next Nat'l Interview)

Talking Head:  Buzz, you had a top 10 team comprised of mostly juniors and seniors, injuries aside, it had to be disappointing not getting to the Sweet 16, at least.

Buzz:  For real?  Are you asking that question?  I slayed the dragon, baby.  I slayed the muther f'ing dragon!!!  Stewie Morrill went down and I toyed with him, gave up a lead, let him build one up and then I slayed him again.  The Legend went down, and he went down hard.  Disappointing?  Are you kidding me?  Did Jay Wright beat the Legend?  Did Izzo?  What about Calhoun or Deputy Dog?  What about Coach K or World Wide Wes, I mean Cal, did they slay the dragon?  The answer is NO.  The Legend went down and it's cause I put him there.  The season = success.

Brilliant.

[Nukem2]

Wow, some of you guys are really anti-Chicos no matter the subject.  Lets face it, Stew Morrill is a very good coach.  Just the facts.

[jmayer1]

If you follow hoops and don't know who he is, then you don't follow hoops very closely.   And saying many East costs (sic) fans don't have a clue who he is doesn't resonate too much.  Most of those fans are tucked away in their jammies by the time any teams on the west coast play.  I doubt most of them even know Mike Montgomery is back coaching.  If it's PST or MST time zones, they don't care.  Doesn't make him any less of a coach.

I'll ask again, is Jim Phelan a legend?  How many people have heard of him?  Yet the man won 830 games (5th all time), coached more games than anyone in history, etc, etc.  Yet I'll bet most people have no clue who he is.  Yet he's most certainly a legend.  In this part of the country, Morrill is considered one of the best.  Glad to see he is getting some recognition right now nationally even if the bonafide "experts" here don't know who he is.   

In my book, its pretty easy.  If you have to defend to multiple knowledgeable basketball fans that a guy is a legend, he's almost assuredly not a legend.  To say if you haven't heard of Stew Morrill, you don't follow basketball closely is a joke.  The guy has advanced out of the first round of the tourney exactly one time.  Wow, unbelievable; what a legend!!!!

I would say Phelan is a legend.  Anytime you have that many wins, you're a legend.  The case with lower level guys is a little different though as they don't tend to get as much name recognition.  Your boy Stew is still in D-1, albeit at a lower-level conference.

Do you think Bo Ryan is a legend?
Do you think Dick Bennett is a legend?

I think the term legend is passed around way too much these days (especially by outlets like ESPN).  If you're going to term somebody a legend, almost assuredly there should be no debate to their merits.  Guys like Wooden, Rupp, Smith, Coach K, Knight..etc are legend.  Morrill is a damn good coach no doubt, but I'm not going to say he's legendary  

[ChicosBailBonds]

Tiny Navarro College coach, Lewis Orr, retired recently and was showered with praise by his former players and assistant coaches in a ceremony

Including Buzz Williams who called him...quote..."a true legend in coaching".  (Despite not coaching at the major DI level or in a BCS conference or where folks on the east coast could get to know him....how can this be?)


I just hope most of the country approved of this designation by Buzz because otherwise it won't be true.   

[Blackhat]

He was being nice. 

I think Lewis Orr understands he's not a legend but to a few in Texas. 

[madtownwarrior]

but I have heard of Lewis Orr (so he should be called a legend).   I have not heard of Stew Morrill so he is no legend.   

Sarcasm aside - I would think a legend would need to win at least more than 1 game in the NCAA to be called a legend....

[77ncaachamps]

I say Stew needs to stay in USU until they appear in the Final Four.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Bill Self was honored Henry Iba national coach of the year today by the US Basketball Writers Association.

"Self was chosen from among a list of finalists that included Mike Anderson, Missouri; John Calipari, Memphis; Jeff Capel, Oklahoma; Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh; Mike Montgomery, California; Stew Morrill, Utah State; Matt Painter, Purdue; Oliver Purnell, Clemson; and Brad Stevens, Butler."

Note that Morrill and Stevens are the only ones not from power programs....I wonder how those US Basketball Writers even knew about this?  They certainly all must live in the western USA.   


http://www.cjonline.com/sports/basketball/2009-03-23/writers_honor_jayhawks_self_0

[Pardner]

Lewis Orr > Buzz
Buzz = Barry Switzer
Buzz > Stew Morrill
Stew Morrill = Stew Leonard

[ChicosBailBonds]

but I have heard of Lewis Orr (so he should be called a legend).   I have not heard of Stew Morrill so he is no legend.   

Sarcasm aside - I would think a legend would need to win at least more than 1 game in the NCAA to be called a legend....

You've heard of Lewis Orr or Louis Orr?  Big difference.  Almost no one has heard of Lewis Orr (the one Buzz called a legend) unless you're in the JUCO college ranks and from Texas.  Louis Orr, on the other hand, played in the NBA, coached Seton Hall to the NCAAs (they haven't been back since he was fired).  He's currently the head coach at Bowling Green.

By the way, Phelan never won a DI NCAA game, yet he's considered a legend...Morrill has won a DI NCAA game.   


I know we're all having fun on this, but just because you haven't heard of him doesn't mean he isn't an excellent coach.  There's a reason why he was one of the Coach of the Year national finalists along with the heavyweights (Bill Self won).  The guy can coach and damn near knocked us off two weeks ago despite having no NBA talent at all on their squad.

[madtownwarrior]

I think to be a legend he needs to use 3000 plays and three playbooks to call them (red, blue and green)...

[4everwarriors]

Crean's a legend in his own mind.