Coach Hill Named Finalist for 2021 Ben Jobe and Skip Prosser Man of the Year Awards
Courtesy UT Rio Grande Valley Media Relations
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – CollegeInsider.com announced on Monday that The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball coach Lew Hill, who passed away tragically on Feb. 7 at the age of 55, is a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, presented annually to the top minority coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball, and the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, giving annually to those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off the floor as well.
Hill is one of nine coaches to be a finalist for both awards.
This is the second time Hill has been a candidate for the Ben Jobe Award after previously earning finalist recognition in 2019.
Before his passing, Hill coached the Vaqueros to an 8-4 record, including a 2-0 mark in WAC play. The Vaqueros won their WAC opener over Dixie State by 33 points, the largest margin of victory in a conference game in program history. After sweeping Dixie State to improve to 8-3, Coach Hill had his team off to their best start since 2001-02.
The Vaqueros went 6-4 in non-conference play, including their largest-ever margin of victory over UTSA, 81-64 on Nov. 28, and a sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union.
After Coach Hill's final game on Feb. 6, UTRGV ranked third in the NCAA and first in the WAC in three-point percentage defense (25.7%), third in the NCAA and first in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game (14.42), fifth in the NCAA and first in the WAC in turnovers forced per game (18.33), eighth in the NCAA in first in the WAC in total rebounding (41.25), 14th in the NCAA and first in the WAC in steals per game (9.1), 19th in the NCAA and second in the WAC in turnover margin (3.9), and 26th in the NCAA and second in the WAC in field goal percentage defense (39.7%).
UTRGV has carried on Coach Hill's legacy, ranking fourth in the NCAA and first in the WAC in turnovers forced per game (18.78), fourth in the NCAA and first in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game (13.83), sixth in the NCAA and first in the WAC in steals per game (9.2), ninth in the NCAA and first in the WAC in three-point percentage defense (28.4%), 15th in the NCAA and second in the WAC in turnover margin (3.8), 18th in the NCAA and first in the WAC in total rebounding (39.94), and 25th in the NCAA and second in the WAC in field goal percentage defense (40.1%).
In UTRGV's first game after Coach Hill's passing, the team grabbed a program-record 27 steals and scored 48 points off of a season-high 47 turnovers in a 116-51 victory over Dallas Christian. The Vaqueros scored 64 points in the second half and 52 points in the first half to continue a proud tradition of 50-point halves started under Coach Hill, as the Vaqueros recorded 16 halves of at least 50 points during his four and a half-year tenure, including two this year. The Vaqueros only had nine halves of 50 or more points during the eight years prior to Coach Hill's arrival.
An icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Jobe is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons.
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was Southern's 93-78 win over Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
In six years at Wake Forest, Prosser posted a 126-68 record. Prosser's teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Prosser won 100 games at an ACC school quicker than all but two coaches in the history of the conference. He coached NBA stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard, led the Demon Deacons to the first No. 1 national ranking in school history, and earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2003. For his career, Prosser was 291-146 in 14 seasons including six as the head coach at Xavier and one year at Loyola (Md.).
Prosser passed away of an apparent heart attack on July 26, 2007, in his office at Wake Forest. He had just returned from his morning jog.
2021 Ben Jobe Award Finalists
Mike Boynton, Oklahoma State
Wayne Brent, Jackson State
Kevin Broadus, Morgan State
Isaac Brown, Wichita State
Dana Ford, Missouri State
Dennis Gates, Cleveland State
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
Lew Hill, UTRGV
Shaheen Holloway, Saint Peter's
Juwan Howard, Michigan
Stan Johnson, Loyola Marymount
Terrence Johnson, Texas State
Mike Jones, Radford
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Will Jones, North Carolina A&T
Rob Lanier, Georgia State
Shanay Legans, Eastern Washington
Mike Magpayo, UC Riverside
Bashir Mason, Wagner
Mitchie McKay, Liberty
Lamont Paris, Chattanooga
Richie Riley, South Alabama
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Shaka Smart, Texas
Byron Smith, Prairie View A&M
2021 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award Finalists
Casey Alexander, Belmont
Chris Beard, Texas Tech
Mike Boynton, Oklahoma State
Wayne Brent, Jackson State
John Dunne, Marist
Dana Ford, Missouri State
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
Lew Hill, UTRGV
Chris Holtmann, Ohio State
Michael Huger, Bowling Green
Donte' Jackson, Grambling
Mike Jones, Raford
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Pat Kelsey, Winthrop
Tod Kowalczyk, Toledo
Greg Lansing, Indiana State
Shantay Legans, Eastern Washington
Carmen Maciariello, Siena
Bob Marlin, Louisiana
Ryan Odom, UMBC
Lamont Paris, Chattanooga
Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure
Rob Senderoff, Kent State
Todd Simon, Southern Utah
Byron Smith, Prairie View A&M
Sixth-seeded UTRGV opens the Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament on Thursday at 10 p.m. with a quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded New Mexico State on ESPN+.