In 1962, Morrison returned to UC Berkeley to be a graduate assistant on
Rene Herrerias's staff. While coaching at El Camino, Morrison pursued a master's degree in physical education at
Sacramento State College. Morrison received his master's in 1966, with the thesis
The advantages and disadvantages in raising the height of the goal in basketball from ten feet to twelve feet. After getting his master's degree, Morrison became an assistant coach at
San Jose State under
Dan Glines. Morrison recruited
Darnell Hillman to San Jose State in 1967; Hillman would eventually play in the ABA and NBA. Morrison then moved to
USC as an assistant coach under
Bob Boyd. Stan Morrison is the only coach in NCAA history to lead three different basketball teams, in the same state, to the NCAA Tournament - University of the Pacific, University of Southern California and San Jose State University. Morrison won Coach of the Year honors in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, the Pac-10 Conference and the Big West Conference.
Pacific Morrison got his first collegiate head coaching position at the
University of the Pacific in 1972; he would lead the
Pacific Tigers men's basketball team for seven seasons.
USC Morrison then became head coach at the
University of Southern California (USC) in 1979. He was head coach for seven seasons, until he was fired under a new athletic director in 1986. Morrison had been named the
Pacific-10 Coach of the Year after the 1985 season. USC under Morrison made the
1982 and
1985 NCAA tournaments. Following an 11–17 season coaching USC, Morrison and Spencer were fired after the 1985–86 season was over, despite winning the Pac-10 the previous year. It was reported that the players would not remain unless certain conditions were met, including having a say in the next coaching staff. Raveling gave the players a deadline to respond whether they would remain on the team. When they did not respond, he revoked the scholarships of Gathers, Kimble, and Lewis. Raveling's controversial statement was, "You can't let the Indians run the reservation," he said. "You've got to be strong, too. Sometimes you have to tell them that they have to exit." Morrison inherited a team that went 5–21 under coach
Bill Berry and had 10 players quit the team over accusations of verbal and physical abuse against Berry. After 2–24 and 7–19 seasons, San Jose State finished the 1993–94 season 15–12 for the Spartans' first winning season since 1986–87. Led by Olivier Saint-Jean, San Jose State then made the
1996 NCAA tournament after winning the
Big West Conference men's basketball tournament.
UC Riverside athletic director In August 1999, Morrison became athletic director at the
University of California, Riverside. At UC Riverside, Morrison led the university's upgrade from NCAA
Division II to
Division I. Morrison retired from the position on August 15, 2011. ==Post-university career==