He's the boyish-looking member of the Griz coaching staff. At just 29, he's not a lot older than some of the young men he coaches. With his head shaved since the Coaches vs. Cancer program a couple years back, he could pass for one of the players.
Make no mistake, Hill is a coach. It's in his blood. His father, Rick, coached basketball, track and football in high schools in Idaho and Washington. Hill played all those sports and Legion baseball, too, at Freeman High School south of Spokane.
He joined the Montana staff in 2004 when he was hired by Larry Krystkowiak.
During the summers, Hill is head coach Wayne Tinkle's chief ramrod for the three Griz basketball camps - team camp, overnight camp and day camp.
Hill just finished up the overnight camp last week, but still has openings for the day camp to be held July 16-20 for third through eighth graders. Registration is open until the day camp begins.
Q. How did you get into coaching?
A. Ever since I was a little kid I knew I wanted to coach. I started out when I could barely dribble being a ballboy for the teams. You kind of get down there sitting on the end of the bench and you just, I don't know, get a craving for it. Besides for a little while when I was little and wanted to be a truck driver, I always knew I wanted to coach and teach.
Q. What do you think you learned from your dad as a coach?
A. Probably discipline the most. He's pretty regimented, so he taught me a lot about day-to-day discipline, getting stuff done and a good, solid work ethic. It wasn't always easy, because I was playing for him when I was playing AAU ball. At times, it was a little interesting. When your dad's coaching you, there can be some head-butting. We always got through it.
Q. During the season, what are your main responsibilities?
A. The nice thing about our staff is that everyone helps out with what we need to get done. Brian (Marso) and Nate (DuChesne) both have a ton to offer having been head coaches. It's a great staff. I just try to blend in wherever I can to make us the best team.
Q. You do a lot of the organization for the camps, don't you?
A. I've played a part in it, how big a part I don't know. When we first came here one thing we wanted to do was build our camps back up to where they were in the good-old days. They had lost a little momentum.
Q. Are they back up to where they were?
A. We had 67 teams for our team camp. Last year we started with 52. People are really happy with it. For the overnight camp we had 200 kids.
Q. What goes into running the camps?
A. You just have to be organized and have things in place. If you have good coaches and the kids come and the coaches do a good job of working with you, then it's going to run itself. You set the discipline early with the kids, they're here to learn and not fool around and improve not only as a player but as a person. One of the things we do is we have them write letters to their parents while they're here, thanking them for coming to camp.
Q. What do you hope the kids get out of it?
A. I hope they have fun, you know? If you can take some fun from the game, you'll keep playing it and then it can teach you more lessons in life.
Q. What's your favorite age group?
A. Little kids are in that learning, naive stage. When they're young they're so eager to learn. With some of the stuff they can't do skill-wise, at least they're making an effort. As they get older some of them get to where they think they know it all and they're not as willing to learn. The good ones are always willing to learn and get better.
Q. What's the benefit to the school?
A. I think it's huge, personally. I haven't been around a program that is successful that doesn't have good camps. They seem to go hand in hand. When you bring 67 teams here from all over Montana, Washington, Idaho and Canada, that's 670 kids. Of that 670, probably 600 of those kids who would have never seen the campus here at the University of Montana. We have a lot to offer here, then those kids get here and they love it. Even if they can't play college basketball, maybe they'll come to school here.
Lightning round
Best player you've coached against?
I'd have to say Rodney Stuckey may be the most talented. He wasn't quite as mature as Harold Arceneaux when he was at Weber State, who could score just about any time he wanted.
Toughest place to play in the Big Sky?
I'd have to say Weber State because we haven't won there since Wayne took over for Pat (Kennedy) in that one game.
Best road city in the Big Sky?
I'd have to say Portland.
Man-to-man or zone?
Man-to-man.
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