A former Jayhawk has been named the next head baseball coach at Emporia State.
Brad Hill, who served former KU baseball coach Dave Bingham as an assistant from 1991 to 1994, was formally introduced as the Hornets’ new skipper on Thursday after accepting the job last month. He’s the fifth hire for the Hornet’s baseball program in the last 50 years.
The move comes after Hill’s one-year stint in the Big Ten at Northwestern, where the ESU alumnus served under then-interim head coach Josh Reynolds.
It wasn’t the first time Hill was offered a job by his alma mater.
“It just wasn’t the right time,” Hill said in his introductory press conference. “Last summer, I was offered two jobs and it didn’t work out. This was the right time, the right place for me to be.”
The Emporia job is Hill’s first head coaching stint since resigning from Kansas State in 2018 following a 23-31 (5-19 Big 12 Conference) campaign that slotted the Wildcats at ninth in the conference.
The two-time Big 12 coach of the year led K-State to its first conference title in 2013, four NCAA regional tournaments and maintains his status as the program’s all-time winningest coach (468-391-3) since arriving in Manhattan in 2004.
Before firmly planting his feet in Manhattan, Hill and Bingham, who played at Emporia and coached Hill during his time at the university, took a lowly Jayhawks program to its first-ever College World Series in 1993.
“An amazing accomplishment,” Hill said. “I owe him so much for what he’s done for me, not only as a player but as a coach.”
Professionally, Hill was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 1984 in the 35th round and played his way up to Class AA in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After his playing career, Hill served as head coach at Hutchinson Community College from 1988 to 1990 before arriving at KU and led Central Missouri from 1995 to 2003 before beginning his 14-year reign at K-State.
Even with plenty of friendly faces in eastern Kansas, Hill’s home sits in the west of Topeka. Hill, a Galva native, graduated from Canton-Galva High School in 1980.
“Emporia’s always had ties to me,” Hill said. “I think we’re ahead of some exciting times. Expectations are to win championships here. That’s what I’m about and that’s what I’m here to do.”
To date, Hill has overseen 64 MLB Draft picks during his coaching career — 46 at K-State and 18 at Central Missouri.
