2008-09 Vandals - University of Idaho Athletics

Don
Verlin
Head Coach
First Season
Colorado State 1993
MOSCOW, Idaho – Don Verlin has joined the University of
Idaho family as head coach of the Vandal men’s basketball
program. Verlin, who was the longest tenured assistant
coach in Utah State history, brings his offensive expertise
from the fifth-winningest Division I basketball program of the
decade.
coaching staff
past 20 years his teams have 467 victories. The teams with
which he has been involved never have had a record below
.500.
“I’m extremely honored to be chosen the head basketball
coach at the University of Idaho,” Verlin said. “I am
tremendously excited and am looking forward to building a
winning basketball program here.”
Verlin said the schools share not only a conference
affiliation that will be beneficial in his transition but a collegetown
atmosphere that is a draw to his recruiting style and
his family.
“One of the things that really impressed me was the
passion Rob Spear and (Idaho president) Tim White have for
the University of Idaho,” Verlin said.
“Don is a winner. He has been involved with winning
programs his entire career,” Idaho Director of Athletics Dr.
Rob Spear said. “He has been mentored by one of the most
respected coaches in the game – Stew Morrill.
“Don is a program-builder, a great evaluator of talent, and
he understands what it takes to be successful in the Western
Athletic Conference.”
Verlin has been with Morrill for 15 years, which includes
their time together at Colorado State University before Morrill
was hired at Utah
State 11 seasons
ago. The offensive
guru for the Aggies,
Verlin has been a
key component in
Utah State’s nine
successive postseason
appearances
and nine-successive
20-plus-win seasons.
In his 16 years at the
NCAA level, Verlin’s
teams have won
73 percent of their
games and over the
Verlin, who was in charge of USU’s complex offensive
schemes, helped turn the Aggies into one of the best shooting
teams in the country as they currently are in a position to
finish first in the nation for field goal shooting, as they did in
2005. The team has ranked among the top three shooting
teams nationally in four of the last five years.
“Don has been with me 15 years and it’s always tough
to see someone go when they’ve been with you that long,”
Morrill said in a statement released by the school. “I am
very happy for him and his family. He will be a terrific head
coach and we will
miss having him as
part of our program.
Even though we will
be competing in the
same league, Don
will always be family
and that will never
change.”
Prior to Utah
State, Verlin spent
two tenures at
Colorado State, as
he was an assistant
at CSU during the
20
2008-09 Idaho Vandal Basketball