Entering his 16th season as head coach at Valdosta State, Kiley Hill has established himself as one of the top Division II coaches in the nation and was recognized as the 2012 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s South Region Coach of the Year. He stacks that on top of being named the Gulf South Conference East Division’s Coach of the Decade award. Hill has also garnered the GSC East Coach of the Year twice in his career.
In 15 years at Valdosta State, Hill has cemented his legacy with a multitude of appearances in the Gulf South Conference Tournament. In fact, last year's appearance marked the Lady Blazers' 13th straight trip to the postseason. During the 2014-15 season, he went on to improve his record as the Lady Blazer head coach to 264-163 for a winning percentage of .618.
During the 2013-14 season, Hill secured his 250th career win with Valdosta State after defeating a tough Alabama-Huntsville squad on January 6 with an 89-81 victory.
Strong defense has been a staple of Lady Blazer basketball throughout the past 14 years. With Hill at the helm, the Lady Blazers have ranked among the nation’s top 20 in scoring defense nine times, and the team has never finished below 31st nationally in terms of defense.
Hill has coached 20 All-GSC performers in his time at VSU. Most recently, Brittney Nelson was named 2012-13 All GSC. Nelson helped lead the team to a 16-11 overall record during the 2012-13 season, and yet another appearance in the GSC tournament.
One of Hill and the Lady Blazers’ strongest years came just three seasons ago, as the 2011-12 squad went to the NCAA Division II South Regional Championship and missed the NCAA Division II Elite Eight by just two points with a 56-54 loss to eventual Final Four participant Rollins. The team finished 22-8 for the season and 10-4 in the GSC.
During that season, Brittany Ferguson was named All-America and joined Sczeny Hartry as being recognized as All-Region and All-GSC. The duo was able to build upon their performance in the 2010-11 season in which the team finished 14-13 with seven conference victories.
In the 2009-10 season, Hill led his team on an undefeated run in Gulf South Conference action for a 20-9 overall record and a perfect 10-0 mark in GSC play. The Lady Blazers went to the second round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament before falling to Delta State. The tournament appearance marked the fourth consecutive appearance for VSU and fifth in six seasons.
Hill’s best season to date may have come in 2007-08. The Lady Blazers gained the most wins under Hill’s reign as they raced to a 26-6 record, the best since the 1983-84 season, and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen finish. Hill showcased his defensive prowess in 2007-08 when Valdosta State held opponents to just 51.1 points per game.
While many individuals achieved peak performance under Hill’s tutelage in 2007-08, the team proved to be more than the sum of its parts. As a group, the Lady Blazers staged an assault on the VSU record book as it hit a record 199 three pointers. The team dropped 14 threes in one game for a record breaking performance.
The 2007-08 season, though, stands as just one in a line of successful seasons for Hill and his staff. In 2006-07 the team rolled to a 24-7 record, including an 11-1 mark in Gulf South Conference play and a first-place finish in the league’s East Division. Valdosta State finished the year as the nation’s top defensive team and Hill earned GSC Coach of the Year honors. He was joined by two of his players to be honored by the Gulf South as All-Conference performers.
Hill opened his VSU career by leading the Lady Blazers to a 15-12 record and surrendered an opponent average of 58.2 points per contest, good enough for 17th-best in the nation. Under Hill’s tutelage, former Lady Blazer great, Tracy Sprolden earned All-America honors as a senior while also being named the GSC East Division Player of the Year. She joined Carley Peterson as All-Decade players under Hill.
After a sub-par 2001-02 year that saw the team go 10-16 while ranking 31st in scoring defense, Hill directed the Lady Blazers back into the nation’s top ten in scoring defense in both the 2002-03 season when they finished sixth and the 2003-04 season with an eighth place finish while collecting a combined 33 wins against only 22 losses.
Hill joined the VSU staff in 2000 after one year as the head coach at the University of West Alabama. That was preceded by two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UWA.
Hill played baseball at Arkansas Tech, graduating with a degree in math education in 1995. He was the basketball graduate assistant for two years under the legendary Joe Foley before moving to West Alabama where he earned his Masters in continuing education in 1997.
A native of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Hill is married to the former Molly Longing of Russellville, Ark., whom he considers just as important as any of his assistant coaches.
“She is my best friend and the reason why I stay sane! She leaves no doubt that behind every good man there is an incredible, intelligent, rock solid woman,” Hill said. “Molly is the unsung hero of Lady Blazer Basketball!”
The couple has two children, Whitley Ann, 14, and Skyler Len, 11.
