Bob Hill

Robert G. Hill (born November 24, 1948 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American basketball coach. Upon graduating from High School, Mr. Hill entered The Bowling Green State University. Hill has a son, Casey, who plays basketball at Trinity University. Additionally, his oldest son Cameron, a former assistant at Kentucky, is employed at the U.S. Basketball Academy in Oregon, while another son, Chris, is an assistant at Trinity, where he also played college basketball.

On January 3, 2006 he replaced Bob Weiss as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics after a lackluster 13-17 start to the 2005–06 season. He most recently served as assistant coach for the team. He holds an all-time win-loss NBA coaching record of 257-212. He was fired as Sonics head coach on April 24, 2007.

Career as head coach at Fordham

Between 1999 and 2002, Hill was head coach at Fordham University. At Fordham he compiled a 36-78 record (.316 winning %). He was let go by the Rams following the 2002-03 season after posting a 2-26 record with only 1 win in the Atlantic 10. Bob Hill had this to say in a recent New York Daily News article on March 13, 2007:

'Fordham was my fault,' says Hill

Bob Hill left the Bronx after the 2002-03 season, but the former Fordham coach still takes full responsibility for his rocky four-year tenure at Rose Hill.

"Fordham was my fault; I just shouldn't have done it," Hill told the Daily News before his Seattle SuperSonics played the Knicks at Madison Square Garden last Tuesday. "I don't want to get into why," he added. "Just blame it on me."

The Rams finished 2-26 in 2003, the worst record in school history, and Hill was ushered out with a 36-78 record. Fordham paid Hill $650,000 to leave the university in a buyout agreement four years into his 10-year deal.

"I guess the best way to put it (is), I've had a really privileged career," Hill said. "I've been around a lot of great organizations; I've had a lot of great players. I've always had success to some degree, so I feel like I understand what it takes to do that and it just didn't work."

Career as NBA coach

Hill became the Sonics' head coach in January 2006 after joining the staff of former coach Bob Weiss the previous September. He had previously coached the Knicks in 1986-87, spent three seasons as the Indiana Pacers' head coach (1990-93), and piloted the San Antonio Spurs to an NBA-best 62 wins in 1994-95 before losing to Houston in the Western Conference finals.

Asked to recount some of the missteps he made during his tenure at Fordham, Hill said that he made a mistake before the 2002-03 season in trying to bring in playground players such as Adrian Walton and Smush Parker.

"We tried to bring the Rucker League to Fordham and it didn't work out," Hill said.

But Hill said he didn't have any regrets about his time in the Bronx.

"It's a good school, good people, the whole thing, but I made a mistake," Hill said.

"I don't really regret it," he added. "I've learned so much about what those young guys go through to try to be successful. It's hard for them." (Ian Begley)

He has coached three other NBA teams: the San Antonio Spurs, the Indiana Pacers, and the New York Knicks. He was fired by the Spurs during the 1996–97 season and replaced by Gregg Popovich.

Hill is known for his unorthodox style of handling the media, shoe stomping, and whistle blowing on the sidelines during NBA games.Fact|date=May 2007

Books

*"Basketball: Coaching for Success" (2000) ISBN 1-58518-249-4

External links

* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/hillbo99c.html BasketballReference.com: Bob Hill]
* [http://www.nba.com/sonics/roster/bob_hill.html NBA.com profile]