FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State Director of Athletics John Currie announced Wednesday that head baseball coach Brad Hill has agreed to a new multi-year contract, securing the services of the 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year through the 2013 season.
The new four-year deal is retroactive to July 1, 2009, and extends to June 14, 2013. It replaces the four-year agreement Hill signed in 2007.
“Coach Hill has steadily built a highly competitive program at Kansas State,” Currie said. “He has accomplished this by assembling a talented and dedicated coaching staff focused on developing student-athletes, both athletically and academically, and competing for championships. The support of our baseball program has progressed greatly under Coach Hill, which included last year’s historic season, and we are committed to building and maintaining a perennially contending program.”
“I’m very proud of Coach Hill and the job he has done restoring our baseball program to be a leader in both academics and athletics in the Big 12,” added University President Dr. Kirk Schulz. “I look forward to enjoying many seasons under his leadership.”
Hill will be paid a base salary of $160,000 and could earn up to an additional $157,500 in annual performance incentives that include bonuses for various team achievements, including appearances in the Big 12 Baseball Championship and the NCAA Tournament, as well as for winning regular-season and post-season championships.
Not only has Kansas State baseball excelled on the field, but Hill has put an emphasis on his players’ performance in the classroom. Under Hill, the Cats have had 30 Academic All-Big 12 selections as well as four Academic All-District honors, including Brett Scott, who was a two-time Academic All-American in 2007 and 2008. In addition, K-State’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) has steadily improved, now reflecting an outstanding four-year average of 935.
The 2009 season was Hill’s sixth in Manhattan after taking over a program that hadn’t had a winning conference record since 1990. Hill has guided Kansas State to six years of growth in both overall and conference winning percentage, making the Wildcat baseball program one of the most steadily advancing programs in the Big 12 Conference. In fact, K-State baseball is the only program among all Big 12 football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball programs to improve its conference winning percentage each of the last six years.
“I am excited to be a part of the new direction of Kansas State athletics,” said Hill. “President Schulz and John Currie have been very supportive of me, the program, the staff, and the steps that we are taking to be one of the best baseball programs in the nation on and off the field. This agreement obviously shows a great commitment to the baseball program from our University administration. My family and I have enjoyed our first six years in Manhattan and have appreciated all the support of the K-State family. We are looking forward to the opportunity to stay in the Manhattan community for many years to come.”
The 2009 season proved to be the most storied in the program’s 109-year history. Predicted to finish ninth in the Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll, the Wildcats turned in a school-record 43-win season – including a program-best 14 conference victories to finish fourth in the Big 12 regular season standings, the school’s best finish since placing second in the Big Eight in 1990. The Cats earned their first Top 10 ranking during the season and finished the 2009 campaign in the national polls for the first time in school history when Baseball America ranked K-State No. 19 in its final poll.
Hill, who garnered 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors, directed K-State to its first ever NCAA Regional appearance when the Cats earned an at-large berth as the No. 2 seed in the Houston (Rice) Regional. The Cats didn’t stop there as they tallied a pair of victories in the regional, including one against No. 1 seed and home team Rice, to advance to the regional final.
Along the way, the 2009 Wildcats set numerous school marks, including season wins (43), Big 12 victories (14), Big 12 finish (fourth), hits (675), stolen bases (149) and strikeouts (453).
Hill also tutored Consensus All-American and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year A.J. Morris, two freshman all-Americans in James Allen and Nick Martini and seven All-Big 12 performers. Four Wildcats also earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors last season, while Jason King and Thomas Rooke were named Academic All-District.
Following the conclusion of the 2009 season, five Wildcats were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, improving Hill’s total to 18 since he took over the program in 2004.
Hill was named the 20th head baseball coach in Kansas State history on June 3, 2003, after an ultra-successful nine-year stint as the head coach at Central Missouri State (now the University of Central Missouri) as he left CMSU as the winningest active coach in Division II that included a National Championship in 2003.
