Lewis Daniel Hill (April 11, 1965 – February 7, 2021) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. He was the head coach for the

Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball team, or UTRGV Vaqueros, represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Western Athletic Conference. They play ...

team.

Playing career

Hill, a 1983 graduate of

Mount Vernon High School Mount Vernon High School could refer to: *Mount Vernon High School (Arkansas) — Mount Vernon, Arkansas * Mount Vernon High School (Illinois) — Mount Vernon, Illinois *Mount Vernon High School (Fortville, Indiana) * Mount Vernon High Sch ...

in the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, began his college career at

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a public community college in the Greater Houston with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, De ...

where he helped the team win the 1984

NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships is held annually in March at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, KS. The first official NJCAA National Championship was in 1948 in Springfield, MO at the Southwest State College Fieldhouse. The ...

title, while also earning JUCO All-American honors. Hill completed his college career at

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

under

Eddie Fogler Eddie Fogler (born June 12, 1948) is an American retired college basketball player and coach. He played for the University of North Carolina from 1967 to 1970 where he played as a point guard on two NCAA Final Four teams. Fogler was an All-Cit ...

, earning All- Missouri Valley Conference honors as a senior. In the 1988–89 season, Hill played professionally for DTV Charlottenburg in the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

and in the FIBA Korać Cup. A car accident ended his playing days.

Coaching career

After his playing career, Hill got his coaching start at

Wichita East High School Wichita East High School, known locally as "East", is a public secondary school in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is operated by Wichita USD 259 school district. The centrally located school's campus and the building's Collegiate Gothic styl ...

as an assistant coach for one season before entering the college ranks to join the staff of South Alabama. Following stops at SE Missouri State and

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

, Hill joined

Melvin Watkins Melvin Lenzo Watkins (born November 15, 1954) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He has also been the associate head coach at the University of Missouri. He served as interim head coach during the end of the 2006 season, but ...

's staff at Texas A&M, where he stayed until 2004. Hill then joined Lon Kruger's staff at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

, and followed him to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, where he was part of eight NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four appearance by the Sooners during the 2015–16 season. In 2016, Hill accepted the head coaching position at Texas–Rio Grande Valley, replacing

Dan Hipsher Dan Hipsher (born December 6, 1954) is the associate head coach for the Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team. He was previously the head coach at Wittenberg University, Stetson University, the University of Akron and Texas–Rio Grande Valley. ...

. At the close of the 2020–21 season he was posthumously named the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

Coach of the Year. He was also posthumously named as the recipient of the 2021

Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award The Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award is an award given annually to the nation's men's head basketball coach in NCAA Division I competition who also exhibits strong moral character. The award was established in 2008 and is named for head coach Sk ...

Death

Hill developed

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in late January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, while battling other medical issues. He was preparing to step down amid his fifth season as head coach at UTRGV, when he died on February 7, 2021, at age 55. He is survived by his wife and their two children and three other children from previous relationships.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Texas–Rio Grande Valley profile

Oklahoma profile
1965 births 2021 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) East Carolina Pirates men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball coaches San Jacinto Central Ravens men's basketball players South Alabama Jaguars men's basketball coaches Southeast Missouri State Redhawks men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Mount Vernon, New York Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball coaches UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball coaches UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball coaches Wichita State Shockers men's basketball players {{US-basketball-coach-stub