Is Washington State interested in hiring USU coach?

For many folks at Utah State, this is a case of been-there, done-that.

Stew Morrill's name pops up pretty much every offseason in connection with any number of open college coaching positions. Winning an average of 25.2 games over the past 10 seasons, Morrill is routinely called one of the best coaches in the country. And now he's being mentioned for the opening at Washington State.

The Cougars are hoping to find a replacement for Tony Bennett, their coach of three years, who departed to take the job at the University of Virginia last week.

Morrill reportedly did not make the trip to Detroit to attend the NCAA Final Four this weekend while WSU athletic director Jim Sterk is in the Motor City to meet with a handful of candidates.

Washington State reportedly has narrowed its search to just a few candidates. Portland State's Ken Bone has won back-to-back Big Sky tourney titles and, according to some reports, is the front-runner for the position.

Other candidates include Alabama-Birmingham coach Mike Davis, who is the former head coach at Indiana, and Morrill.

Morrill, Utah State's all-time winningest coach, signed a contract extension before the 2008-2009 season. One of the primary reasons for the new contract was Don Verlin's departure for Idaho.

While he was at USU, Verlin was Morrill's heir-apparent if the Aggies' coach decided to leave. But when Verlin left first, Morrill got a new contract that included not only a nice salary bump but a significantly bigger buyout clause.

"The longer it goes, the more it looks like this could be my last coaching stop," Morrill said at the time. "That's just fine with me. I guess to qualify that, it makes it a lot more pleasant if we can keep having some success.

"That makes it more fun for everybody."

But Washington State is reportedly offering more than $1 million a year and, despite his loyalty to Utah State over the past 11 seasons, Morrill — who previously coached at Montana and Colorado State — might be persuaded to make another change of address.

A source close to the Aggie athletic department told the Deseret News that there had been no official contact between WSU and Morrill, and that Washington State has not asked officials at Utah State officials for permission to contact Morrill.

E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com