Brad Hill (baseball coach)

Brad Hill is an American college baseball coach and has been the head baseball coach at Kansas State University since the start of the 2004 season. He has held the position for eight seasons. Under him, the Wildcats have appeared in six consecutive Big 12 Baseball Tournaments (2007-2012). His teams have also qualified for three NCAA Division I Baseball Championships. Hill was the coach at Central Missouri from 1995-2003. He won a Division II National Championship there in 2003, and was National Runner-up in 2001.^[1]

Playing career

Hill played collegiately at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. He capped off his stellar four-year career by helping Emporia State to the 1984 NAIA College World Series. Hill still owns a majority of the Hornets' offensive marks, including the career marks for games played (244), at-bats (809), hits (302), runs scored (241), RBIs (264), doubles (71) and home runs (47).

He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft in the 35th round (778th overall). He advanced as high as Class AA.^[2]

Coaching career

Hill was the head coach at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, for three seasons from 1988–90, compiling an 83–50 overall record. His 1989 squad posted a school-record 34 wins, while in 1990 the Dragons registered the highest winning percentage in school history with a 32–9 mark.

Hill was an assistant coach at the University of Kansas for 4 seasons under his college coach, Dave Bingham. As the Jayhawks' hitting coach and recruiting coordinator from 1991–94, he helped Kansas to a 144-92 overall record and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, including the school's first and only trip to the College World Series in 1993. The 1993 team broke school records for most hits, doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases in a single-season. The Jayhawks posted a 10-7 record against the Wildcats during Hill's tenure in Lawrence.

Hill was hired by Central Missouri State in 1995. He led the Mules to a National Championship in 2003, with a record of 51–7, including 27–2 in conference play.

In the summer of 2003, Hill was hired by Kansas State University as the head baseball coach. He replaced Mike Clark, who coached the team for 17 years. In 2004, Hill lead the Wildcats to their first-ever national ranking at No. 30 during that pan, which included an 11-game winning streak.

Then, in 2005, the Wildcats took the next step as they won 30 games in a season for just the 10th time ever, doubled their conference wins from the previous season, swept a season series from in-state rival Wichita State for the first time in 50 years and knocked off a No. 1-ranked team for the first time in school history, eventual national champion Texas.

In 2006, the Wildcats won a school-record 16 straight games and also ended the season on a 5-game winning streak, wrapping up the season with a sweep of # 22 Baylor at Tointon Family Stadium. Statistically, K-State finished the season in the top half of the league in both hitting (.314) and ERA (3.94). The 3.94 team ERA was the lowest since the 1975 season and the best since the addition of aluminum bats in college baseball.

His teams have won 40 or more games eight times and 50-plus games on four occasions.

On April 29, 2009, Hill won his 600th career game, beating North Dakota, 10-2.^[3] He also earned 2009 Big 12 Conference Baseball Coach of the Year honors.

The 2009 season proved to be the most storied in the program's 109-year history. Predicted to finish ninth in the Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll, Hill guided K-State to a school-record 43-win season, including a program-best 14 conference victories to finish fourth in the Big 12 regular season standings, the school's best finish since placing second in the Big 8 in 1990. The Cats earned their first top 10 ranking during the season and finished the 2009 campaign in the national polls for the first time in school history when Baseball America ranked K-State No. 19 in its final poll. The Wildcats earned their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. They won their first two games, beating Xavier University and the Rice Owls before losing two straight to the Rice Owls resulting in their elimination.

As of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, 18 Wildcats have been drafted under the tutelage of Brad Hill.^[4]

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Hill's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach. It does not include his seasons as a junior college head coach.^[5][6][7][8]

See also

• List of current NCAA Division I baseball coaches

References