USD Baseball 2008

rich HILL

Head Coach 10th Season 642-439-3

Cal Lutheran (19r

R ich Hill has built the USO Toreros into one of the most suc– cessful Division I baseball programs on the West Coast.The 2007 spring season will be Hill's 21st year as a head coach at the collegiate level, and 10th at USO, having enjoyed 17 winning seasons in 20 years. Since taking over at USO in 1999, Hill has been remarkable in leading the Toreros to seven consecutive 30 plus win seasons, re-writing the school record book en route to claiming back-to-back West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2002 2003 and also claiming the WCC crown in 2007. In 2007 Hill directed the Toreros to the program's first 40-win season, a program-best No. 4 national ranking and a No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Regionals, becoming the first school in the history of the conference to receive this honor. The Toreros also hosted the NCAA Regionals, bringing this event to the city of San Diego for the first time ever. The Toreros posted an impressive 18-3 record in the WCC including five consecutive series sweeps, a first at USO as well. Hill also eclipsed the 600 career win mark and moved over 300 wins as the USO skipper. For his efforts, he was awarded the WCC Coach of the Year distinction. In the 2006 season, not only did Hill lead USO back to the post– season, but he also helped guide the Toreros to a, then program-best No.8 national ranking 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 then 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 USO into postseason play and a second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. Scheduling the nation's top competition, Hill owns a 309-219-3 (.585) overall record as San Diego's manager. In turn, Hill has brought the school national notoriety, earning a No. 4 national ranking by Collegiate Baseball, its highest in school history. Following a 35-21 season in 2004,seven of Hill'seight graduating seniors signed professional contracts. That same season a record 10 USO players were recognized as AII-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 45-year-old Hill is a proven winner. He has a record of suc– cess 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,