Bob Hill
Encyclopedia
Robert W. Hill is an American basketball
coach. Hill grew up in Mount Sterling, Ohio
moving to Worthington, Ohio
for high school. Upon graduating from high School, Hill entered Bowling Green State University
. Hill is currently the head coach of the Tokyo Apache
in Japan. During the summer of 2011, he was invited by Nike
to help Taiwan men's basketball team as a consultant.
. He attended the school during a time when college players were not eligible to join the varsity squad until their sophomore seasons; although he showed tremendous promise as a member of the freshman team, his success never really translated over to his tenure as a member of the varsity team. He then became interested in coaching.
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 the Houston Rockets
in the Western Conference finals. After a 3-15 start to the 1996–97 season, Hill was fired by one of his bosses, Gregg Popovich
, who thereafter replaced Hill as the Spurs coach. Hill's firing at the time was puzzling to some and deeply angered Hill, considering his previous success and the fact that the poor start to the season was due in some part to injuries to David Robinson
and Sean Elliott
, the team's two best players.
where he compiled a 36–78 record (31.6% winning %). He was let go by the Rams following the 2002–03 season after only 1 win in the Atlantic 10. The Rams finished 2–26 in 2003, the worst record in school history. Fordham paid Hill $650,000 to leave the university in a buyout agreement four years into his 10-year deal.
He took responsibility for his rocky four-year tenure there. "Fordham was my fault; I just shouldn't have done it," Hill told the New York Daily News
. "I don't want to get into why," he added. "Just blame it on me."
"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."
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)
as head coach of the NBA team the Seattle SuperSonics
, after a lackluster 13–17 start to the 2005–06 season
; he had most recently served as assistant coach for the team. He was fired as Sonics head coach on April 24, 2007.
He holds an all-time win-loss NBA coaching record of 312–293.
and graduated in 2007. 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 the head coach at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas
.
| align="left" |NYK
| align="left" |
|66||20||46||.303|| align="center" |4th in Atlantic||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-
| align="left" |IND
| align="left" |
|57||32||25||.561|| align="center" |5th in Central||5||2||3||.400
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
|-
| align="left" |IND
| align="left" |
|82||40||42||.488|| align="center" |4th in Central||3||0||3||.000
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
|-
| align="left" |IND
| align="left" |
|82||41||41||.500|| align="center" |5th in Central||4||1||3||.250
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
|-
| align="left" |SAS
| align="left" |
|82||62||20||.756|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||15||9||6||.600
| align="center" |Lost in Conf. Finals
|-
| align="left" |SAS
| align="left" |
|82||59||23||.720|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||10||5||5||.500
| align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals
|-
| align="left" |SAS
| align="left" |
|18||3||15||.167|| align="center" |(fired)||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |—
|-
| align="left" |SEA
| align="left" |
|52||22||30||.423|| align="center" |3rd in Northwest||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-
| align="left" |SEA
| align="left" |
|82||31||51||.378|| align="center" |5th in Northwest||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-class="sortbottom"
| align="left" |Career
| ||603||310||293||.514|| ||37||17||20||.459
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach. Hill grew up in Mount Sterling, Ohio
Mount Sterling, Ohio
Mount Sterling is a village in Madison County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,865 at the 2000 census. It is a part of the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area....
moving to Worthington, Ohio
Worthington, Ohio
-Dissolution of the Company:By August 11, 1804 the plat maps were completed, payments or notes promising payments collected and deeds prepared for all sixteen thousand acres of the Scioto Company's purchase...
for high school. Upon graduating from high School, Hill entered Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
. Hill is currently the head coach of the Tokyo Apache
Tokyo Apache
Tokyo Apache is a Japanese basketball club, based in the city of Tokyo, Kantō Region. They play in the bj league, the top-level Japanese professional League.Their home games are played at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium II, located at Shibuya, Tokyo....
in Japan. During the summer of 2011, he was invited by Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
to help Taiwan men's basketball team as a consultant.
College
Bob Hill played basketball collegiately at Bowling Green State UniversityBowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
. He attended the school during a time when college players were not eligible to join the varsity squad until their sophomore seasons; although he showed tremendous promise as a member of the freshman team, his success never really translated over to his tenure as a member of the varsity team. He then became interested in coaching.
Early coaching career
Hill was an assistant coach for the Kansas Jayhawks from 1979-85.As NBA coach
Hill coached the New York KnicksNew York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
in 1986–87, spent three seasons as the Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
' head coach (1990–93), and piloted the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
to an NBA-best 62 wins in 1994–95 before losing to the Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
in the Western Conference finals. After a 3-15 start to the 1996–97 season, Hill was fired by one of his bosses, Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich is an American basketball coach, and is currently the head coach of the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. With the resignation of Jerry Sloan as head coach of the Utah Jazz on February 10, 2011, Popovich is the longest tenured coach in the NBA and also the...
, who thereafter replaced Hill as the Spurs coach. Hill's firing at the time was puzzling to some and deeply angered Hill, considering his previous success and the fact that the poor start to the season was due in some part to injuries to David Robinson
David Robinson (basketball)
David Maurice Robinson is a retired American NBA basketball player, who played center for the San Antonio Spurs for his entire NBA career. Based on his prior service as an officer in the United States Navy, Robinson earned the nickname "The Admiral". He and teammate power forward Tim Duncan were...
and Sean Elliott
Sean Elliott
Sean Michael Elliott is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.-Early life:Elliott was born in Tucson, Arizona and was youngest of three boys. He was a very intelligent boy growing up and attended the G.A.T.E. program at Toleson Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona...
, the team's two best players.
At Fordham University
Between 1999 and 2003, Hill was head coach at Fordham UniversityFordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
where he compiled a 36–78 record (31.6% winning %). He was let go by the Rams following the 2002–03 season after only 1 win in the Atlantic 10. The Rams finished 2–26 in 2003, the worst record in school history. Fordham paid Hill $650,000 to leave the university in a buyout agreement four years into his 10-year deal.
He took responsibility for his rocky four-year tenure there. "Fordham was my fault; I just shouldn't have done it," Hill told the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
. "I don't want to get into why," he added. "Just blame it on me."
"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."
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
Smush Parker
William Henry "Smush" Parker is an American professional basketball player. Parker played shooting guard in college but moved to point guard in the NBA...
. "We tried to bring the Rucker League
Rucker Park
Rucker Park is a basketball court in the Harlem neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard across the street from the former Polo Grounds site...
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)
Return to NBA
On January 3, 2006 he replaced Bob WeissBob Weiss
Robert William "Bob" Weiss is a retired American professional basketball player and head coach in the NBA. He is currently coaching Shanxi Zhongyu in the Chinese Basketball Association....
as head coach of the NBA team the Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
, after a lackluster 13–17 start to the 2005–06 season
2005-06 NBA season
The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
; he had most recently served as assistant coach for the team. He was fired as Sonics head coach on April 24, 2007.
He holds an all-time win-loss NBA coaching record of 312–293.
Personal life
Hill has a son, Casey, who played basketball at Trinity UniversityTrinity University (Texas)
Trinity University is a private, independent, primarily undergraduate, university in San Antonio, Texas. Its campus is located in the Monte Vista Historic District and adjacent to Brackenridge Park....
and graduated in 2007. Additionally, his oldest son Cameron, a former assistant at Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
, is employed at the U.S. Basketball Academy in Oregon, while another son, Chris is the head coach at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas
Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas is a private, college-preparatory school for young men under the direction of the Society of Jesus and home to the Jesuit Dallas Museum in Dallas, Texas...
.
Head coaching record
|-| align="left" |NYK
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
| align="left" |
|66||20||46||.303|| align="center" |4th in Atlantic||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-
| align="left" |IND
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
| align="left" |
|57||32||25||.561|| align="center" |5th in Central||5||2||3||.400
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
1991 NBA Playoffs
The 1991 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1990–91 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls winning their first NBA championship via a four-games-to-one victory over the Western Conference champion Los...
|-
| align="left" |IND
| align="left" |
|82||40||42||.488|| align="center" |4th in Central||3||0||3||.000
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
1992 NBA Playoffs
NBA Champions: Chicago BullsThe 1992 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament following the National Basketball Association's 1991-1992 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls winning their second consecutive NBA championship by defeating the Western...
|-
| align="left" |IND
| align="left" |
|82||41||41||.500|| align="center" |5th in Central||4||1||3||.250
| align="center" |Lost in First Round
1993 NBA Playoffs
The 1993 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1992-1993 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls winning their third consecutive championship by defeating the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns four...
|-
| align="left" |SAS
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
| align="left" |
|82||62||20||.756|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||15||9||6||.600
| align="center" |Lost in Conf. Finals
1995 NBA Playoffs
The 1995 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1994-1995 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets winning their second consecutive NBA championship by defeating the Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic...
|-
| align="left" |SAS
| align="left" |
|82||59||23||.720|| align="center" |1st in Midwest||10||5||5||.500
| align="center" |Lost in Conf. Semifinals
1996 NBA Playoffs
The 1996 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1995-1996 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls winning their first NBA championship in three years by defeating the Western Conference champion Seattle...
|-
| align="left" |SAS
| align="left" |
|18||3||15||.167|| align="center" |(fired)||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |—
|-
| align="left" |SEA
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
| align="left" |
|52||22||30||.423|| align="center" |3rd in Northwest||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-
| align="left" |SEA
| align="left" |
|82||31||51||.378|| align="center" |5th in Northwest||—||—||—||—
| align="center" |Missed Playoffs
|-class="sortbottom"
| align="left" |Career
| ||603||310||293||.514|| ||37||17||20||.459