Legendary Rutgers University baseball coach Fred Hill Sr. joins the Cougar staff as an assistant baseball coach. Hill has 1,089 victories in his 37-year collegiate coaching career, including 30 years and 941 wins with the Scarlet Knights. He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January of 2015.
“Coach J. Messina has given me an opportunity to work with young players again, which I’ve always enjoyed to do,” Hill said. “We have a nice group that’s been very receptive. Once we get outside we’ll get a better picture, but it looks like we’re going to have a pretty good club.”
During his 30 years at Rutgers, Hill led the Scarlet Knights to 11 NCAA Regional tournaments, 12 regular-season conference championships and eight conference tournament crowns. He coached 72 players who went on to play professionally, including current Major League players Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds and David DeJesus of the Tampa Bay Rays. His record at Rutgers was 941-658-7 and included 267 victories in 19 seasons in the Big East Conference, which ranks second in league history.
Prior to his time at Rutgers, Hill spent seven years at Montclair State University, where he guided the Red Hawks to two NJAC championships, three NCAA Tournament appearances and a trip to the 1983 Division III World Series. In seven seasons at Montclair State, he compiled a record of 148-91-2. Hill also served as the Red Hawks’ football coach, posting a 55-12-4 mark with five NJAC titles in seven years.
“We welcome Coach Hill to Caldwell and we know he will be an asset to the baseball program and the university,” Messina said. “I was thrilled that he accepted my offer to join our staff, and I look forward to having his considerable knowledge of the game and experience in our practices and our dugout.”
