| ||||||||||||
 Rich Hill with his wife Lori and their two children, Robbie and Lindsey  |
|
Rich Hill has built the USD Toreros into one of the most successful Division I baseball programs on the West Coast. The 2007 spring season will be Hill's 20th year as a head coach at the collegiate level, and ninth at USD, having enjoyed 16 winning seasons in 19 years. Since taking over at USD in 1999, Hill has been remarkable in leading the Toreros to eight consecutive winning campaigns, re-writing the school record book en route to claiming back-to-back West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2002 and 2003.
In 2007 Hill driected the Toreros to the program's first 40-win season and a program-best No. 4 National Ranking. The Toreros posted an impressive 18-3 record in the WCC including five consecutive series sweeps, a first at USD as well. Hill also eclipsed the 600 career win mark and moved over 300 wins as the USD skipper. For his effors, he was awarded the WCC Coach of the Year distinction.
In the 2006 season, not only did Hill lead USD back to the postseason, but he also helped guide the Toreros to a national ranking of No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball top-25 poll on Feb. 2, 2006. Other milestones that Hill achieved during this historic season was the team recorded its first win over a No. 1 ranked opponent as they swept the defending national champion Texas Longhorns in the opening weekend. Hill became the third coach in the history of the WCC to eclipse the 200 conference wins mark, and he is one win shy of the 600 career wins total with an overall coaching record of 599-420-3.
Under his leadership San Diego has averaged 33 wins per season, including winning a school record 39 games in 2002, a year in which Hill was honored by his peers as the WCC Coach of the Year. Hill became one of the youngest coaches in collegiate history to reach 500 career victories in 2003, taking USD into postseason play and a second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance.
Scheduling the nation's top competition, Hill owns a 266-201-3 (.569) overall record as San Diego's manager. In turn, Hill has brought the school national notoriety, earning a No. 8 national ranking by Collegiate Baseball (2/13/06), its highest in school history.
Following a 35-21 season in 2004, seven of Hill's eight graduating seniors signed professional contracts. That same season a record 10 USD players were recognized as All-WCC performers, with five players being selected in the `04 MLB First Year Player Draft. This past June six more Toreros were drafted and signed by Major League clubs.
The 44-year-old Hill is a proven winner. He has a record of success in each of his three head coaching stops - first at his alma mater Cal Lutheran. In his first head coaching job as the manager at Cal Lu, he won 83% of his games during his final three seasons (1991-93). Hill led Cal Lutheran to a record of 194-76 (.719) over six seasons, including two World Series appearances. His 1992 squad posted a 43-6 record before falling a couple of outs shy of the NCAA Division III title, while the 1993 team finished first in the Western Region with a 32-7 record. Under Hill's guidance, the Kingsmen knocked off Division I opponents such as USC, Pepperdine, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge. During his six seasons at Cal Lutheran, 92 percent of his players received their degrees
Hill was hired by The University of San Francisco in 1994, taking the Dons from the WCC cellar to a 34-win season in his final year in 1998. During a five-year coaching stint at San Francisco (1994-1998), Hill posted three consecutive winning seasons, including a school best 18 wins in the West Coast Conference in 1998 as the Dons finished tied with USD for third place in the WCC. Over his final three seasons there, Hill guided USF to upper division finishes in the WCC; and posted three straight winning seasons, including two campaigns of 30 or more victories. Hill's track record boasts record-breaking seasons for wins in a single season at Cal Lu (43), USD (39) and Chatham in Cape League (35).
In addition to his collegiate coaching positions, Hill was head coach for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League between 1990-93, winning the league title in 1992 with a franchise record of 35-11. He has twice been recognized as the ABCA West Region Coach of the Year (1992, 1993); was the 1992 Cape Cod Baseball League "Manager of the Year"; was twice named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (1992, 1993); and twice was the recipient of the California Lutheran Alumni Career Excellence Award (1993, 1994). Hill's assistants have gone on to successful careers in baseball, including five earning head coaching positions, and two with administrative positions with Major League clubs.
Hill has made his mark off the field as well. The past 10 years he has served on the American Baseball Coaches Association Editorial Committee; and has been an advisor with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He started an innovative peer-mentoring program with his USF team. Dons players and coaching staff volunteered at the nearby Hamilton Community Center, reading stories and playing games with homeless children. Furthermore, Hill is a speaker and clinician at various conventions and camps throughout the region.
Hill earned his Bachelor of Arts degree (Physical Education) in 1984 from California Lutheran University. After playing one season with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1985 (Single A affiliate in Savannah, Georgia), he returned to his alma mater where he earned his Master of Science degree in Education in 1988. Rich and his wife, Lori, live in San Diego with their two children, Robbie (16) and Lindsey (13).
