Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A little bit on Stew Morrill

Kyle Whelliston of TMM has a mention -- well, actually more than that -- of his meetup last season with Coach Stew Morrill. Overall, it's a philosophical piece and, as usual, loaded with insight and the kind of writing that absolutely resonates with us. It's like you never know where he is heading but you want to keep reading in order to find out and because you know it will be worth it.

...Last winter, I went out to Logan, Utah to write a feature story about the Utah State Aggies. They're led by Stew Morrill, who's won 75 percent of his games there, has a decade's worth of 20-win seasons, and has gone to the NCAA Tournament six times during that stretch. As would be expected with such a track record, he's mentioned every summer as a replacement for this coach or that coach. (Perhaps in a couple of months, the media will "connect" him to the Iowa or Iowa State jobs.)

After a game, he and I set up in the Aggies' team room, a stadium-style class space. As we talked, Coach Morrill was fidgety, adjusting his cuffs, looking around the room at the team pictures. He likes being interviewed about as much as I do, I thought. Finally, I threw out my prepared questions and tried to connect with him as an actual human, not a lab project. "Coach, why haven't you left?" I asked. "There are schools in the Big XII and SEC and Pac 10 that would break the bank to get you."

"Money isn't everything," he replied. "I'm from Utah, my family is all within a few hours' drive, and the school has been very good about taking care of me financially."

I left that interview thinking, "This guy's beat the system..."
Go here for the complete article.

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