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October 11, 2006
Support Our Troops® is pleased to announce that NBA Coach Brian Hill has joined its Heroes Board.
NBA Coach Brian Hill graduated from Kennedy College, Nebraska, in 1969 with a bachelor’s in physical education. He was a three-year starter on the basketball team and lettered in track.
Since 1996, Brian Hill’s family has been active in fundraising events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The family’s efforts have raised $3 million to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. They were awarded the “Breath of Life” award in 1993 from The National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In 2006 the Hill family was honored with the Jefferson Award for Public Service.
Hill’s extensive coaching resume spans over 35 years. Hill’s coaching career includes high school and fourteen years at the collegiate level. He began as an assistant at Montclair State in 1972, and held assistant coaching positions at Lehigh University and Penn State. He was the head coach at Lehigh for eight seasons.
His NBA career began in 1986, serving as an assistant to Mike Fratello in Atlanta for four seasons with the Hawks.
Coach Hill joined the Orlando Magic as an assistant to Matt Guokas in 1990, and was promoted to head coach on June 30, 1993. He served as head coach of the Magic from 1993-1997 and is the most successful coach in franchise history, posting a record of 191-104 (.647) during that span. Coach Hill led the Magic to a 60-22 (.732) mark in 1995-1996, a franchise record that still stands. He also led the Magic to their second consecutive Atlantic Division crown and guided the team to the Eastern Conference Finals, before losing to the eventual NBA Champion Chicago Bulls.
The Vancouver Grizzlies named him head coach prior to the 1997-1998 season. As the third head coach in franchise history, he took over a team that had won just fourteen games in 1996-1997. The Grizzlies improved by five games under the first year of Hill’s leadership. His career with the Grizzlies ended 22 games into the 1999-2000 season.
During the 2000-01 season. Coach Hill served as the co-host of “NBA Match-Up” on ESPN.
Hill spent two seasons, 2001-2003, as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets. From January 2004 to roughly May 2005 he served as an assistant on the New Jersey Nets coaching staff.
Brian Hill returned as head coach of the Magic on May 24, 2005, and during the 2005-2006 season led them to a 36-46 record. He guided the Magic to a 16-6 finish, the best in franchise history, including an eight-game winning streak (March 31-April 15, third-longest in team history) and a 12-game home winning streak (March 10-April 15, fourth-longest in team history).
Coach Hill left the Orlando Magic in mid-2007 and is now settling on his next coaching pursuit.
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