|
Gene Hill, the former associate head coach at Butler University, enters his fourth season on the Georgia Tech staff and his first as Director of Basketball Operations.
In his first three seasons at Tech, Hill has helped the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances and a trio of 20-win seasons. He has been instrumental in helping the Yellow Jackets recruit some of the nation's best recruits including a pair of top 25 classes in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Prior to joining the Yellow Jacket staff, Hill served six seasons on the Butler women's basketball staff, including two years as associate head coach. He worked as the Bulldogs' recruiting coordinator and assisted with on-court coaching.
Hill joined Coach Beth Couture's first Butler staff in 2002 after serving as the interim head women's basketball coach at East Carolina University during the 2001-02 season.
The Bulldogs' recent resurgence to the upper tier of the Horizon League has been due in large part to the talent that Hill has accumulated at Butler. His first recruiting class included Jackie Closser and Ellen Hamilton, two players scored 1,000 points in their Butler careers. Additionally, the Bulldogs landed at least one player on the Horizon League's All-Newcomer Team in each of Hill's four years as recruiting coordinator, including Hamilton in 2004, Cassie Freeman in 2005, Lade Akande in 2006 and Susan Lester in 2007.
A tireless recruiter, Hill established relationships within the Indiana basketball community, as 15 of the 23 players signed by Butler during Hill's tenure have Hoosier State ties. However, he has shown the ability to sign some of the Midwest's best talent, landing all-state players from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.
Prior to his stint at East Carolina, Hill was the head women's basketball coach at South Carolina Spartanburg from 1999-01. While in Spartanburg, he recruited three USA Today Honorable Mention All-Americans and the 2000-01 Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.
From 1997-99, Hill served as an assistant women's basketball coach at Lander (S.C.) University, where he helped lead the Bearcats to their first Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship and earned an NCAA Division II Tournament bid.
Hill graduated from Coker (S.C.) College with a degree in physical education in 1997.
While at Coker, Hill played for the Cobras' basketball team for one season and also served as the assistant women's basketball coach for three seasons.
Hill has been invited to attend The Villa 7 Consortium three times in Beaverton, Ore., a group of women's basketball assistant coaches who are considered to be the next generation of rising head coaches in the country.
Hill and his wife, Heidi live in Covington, Ga., with their baby daughter, Genevieve Ashlynn Hill
