My 95 Ford Ranger 2.3L, manual tranny, idles way high as I coast to a stop.

Thanks, globalhelper. Much appreciated. However, I'm strictly a backyard dude. What is a "two way motor issue inside"?

in the iac at the big end is the motor but its not repairable, if its bad you need a new iac

Got it!! Thanks!!!!! What are the various sensors that tell the computer brain to adjust the idle (adjust the IAC?) when the clutch is pushed in and I'm coasting, and what sensors tell the computer when the vehicle is at a full stop (I'm assuming there must be some such sensor that senses the vehicle stopping because the idle immediately goes down to normal at the moment the vehicle stops.)

MAP SENSOR SEES VAC DECREASE AND FEEDS TO COMPUTOR AND THAT FEEDS IAC ALONG WITH OTHER SENSORS DOING THE SAME THING VIA ENG VACUUM

cool. Thanks so much, man! Most everything I've found mentions checking vacuum leaks for this problem, so I'm going with that as my next step after reading your last response. I'll let you know if I find any and if that's the fix.

Sounds like bad (shorted) MAF sensor wiring... had the same problem. Take off the wire coating and electrical tape on the MAF sensor and ensure all wires are connected properly with no cuts or disconnects to the wire.