LOGAN, Utah -- The Stew Morrill era is officially over.
The Utah State men's basketball team now has a new head coach and they did not have to look far to find him.
Tim Duryea has been with the Aggies for 14 years as an assistant coach - all under former head coach Stew Morrill.
"Coach [Morrill] took me on the ride of my life," Duryea said emotionally during the announcement. "Unbelievable. Coach Morrill has 402 wins at Utah State and I have been lucky to be a part of 331 of them. That has been really a great experience."
Duryea has had opportunities to leave Cache Valley and when asked why he has not left, the answer was simple.
"It's an easy answer, why have I stayed? It's a great place, it's a feel-good place. We tell that to recruits all the time, it's a feel-good place," he said.
The reaction from former and current players when they heard the news was mutual excitement.
"I saw it and we were kind of jumping around a little bit," former Aggie basketball player Sean Harris said about hid and some current players’ reaction to the announcement. "That was pretty cool to see that Coach Duryea was going to get the job and get the opportunity to lead the Aggies this year and into the future."
"Knowing what he wants to do with the program, I had met with him a couple of times and talked with him about what he wanted to do and thinking about all of those things I am excited to get started," current Aggie sophomore forward David Collette said about Duryea's promotion.
Utah State has not found a replacement for Duryea yet. It has not been announced whether or not all of the current assistants will be staying with the program.
