Utah State basketball: Morrill talks with Washington State

As has been the case several times over the past several seasons, Utah State basketball coach Stew Morrill is an attractive candidate to fill a variety of vacant coaching positions.

The latest is Washington State, and according to a source close to the USU basketball staff, an offer for Morrill to make the jump from the Aggies to the Pac-10 Cougars could come as early as today.

The source told the Deseret News on Sunday that Morrill met with Washington State officials in Seattle on Sunday to discuss the opening.

Morrill, Utah State's all-time winningest coach with a record of 267-91 record over 11 years, has a base salary of $406,409, and Washington State is believed to be offering in the neighborhood of $1 million or more per year to replace Tony Bennett, who left the Cougars for the Virginia coaching job last week.

Winning an average of 25.2 games per year for the past 10 seasons has made Morrill, 56, one of the most intriguing coaches in the NCAA and has led to a number of offers from other schools over the years. Rather than accept those offers, Morrill has stayed at Utah State — often with a renegotiated contract and a sweetened compensation package.

Morrill, who signed a contract extension prior to the recently completed season, had his buyout clause increased significantly, according to a second source at USU, and Washington State — facing some budget issues like many other universities — may not want to include that in a package to land its next coach.

The developments with Morrill and Washington State come as the eyes of the college basketball world are focused on the NCAA Championship game in Detroit today.

Rather than attend the NCAA Final Four like many basketball coaches do, Morrill vacationed in Colorado with family. Washington State athletic director Jim Sterk did attend the Final Four in Detroit, and he is said to have met with a few other coaches before flying to Seattle and interviewing Portland State's Ken Bone — who had been considered the favorite to land the job ever since Bennett left — and Morrill.

The source said Morrill, assuming an offer is made, would be inclined to stay an Aggie if Utah State, again, makes a counteroffer with another salary bump for the coach and his staff.

A call to Utah State athletic director Scott Barnes Sunday night was not returned as of press time.

E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com