Hill

Kansas State athletic director John Currie announced today that head baseball coach Brad Hill has agreed to a new multi-year contract, securing the services of the 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year through the 2013 season.

The new four-year deal is retroactive to July 1, 2009, and extends to June 14, 2013. It replaces the four-year agreement Hill signed in 2007.

"Coach Hill has steadily built a highly competitive program at Kansas State," Currie said. "He has accomplished this by assembling a talented and dedicated coaching staff focused on developing student-athletes, both athletically and academically, and competing for championships."

Hill will be paid a base salary of $160,000 and could earn up to an additional $157,500 in annual performance incentives that include bonuses for various team achievements, including appearances in the Big 12 Baseball Championship and the NCAA Tournament, as well as for winning regular-season and post-season championships.

Not only has K-State baseball excelled on the field, but Hill has put an emphasis on his players' performance in the classroom.

Under Hill, the Cats have had 30 Academic All-Big 12 selections as well as four Academic All-District honors, including Brett Scott, who was a two-time Academic All-American in 2007 and 2008. In addition, K-State's Academic Progress Rate (APR) has steadily improved, now reflecting an outstanding four-year average of 935.

The 2009 season was Hill's sixth in Manhattan after taking over a program that hadn't had a winning conference record since 1990.

Hill has guided K-State to six years of growth in both overall and conference winning percentage, making the Wildcat baseball program one of the most steadily advancing programs in the Big 12.

"I am excited to be a part of the new direction of Kansas State athletics," said Hill. "President Schulz and John Currie have been very supportive of me, the program, the staff, and the steps that we are taking to be one of the best baseball programs in the nation on and off the field."

The 2009 season proved to be the most storied in the program's 109-year history. Predicted to finish ninth in the Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll, the Cats turned in a school-record 43-win season — including a program-best 14 conference victories to finish fourth in the Big 12 regular season standings.

K-State earned its first Top 10 ranking during the season and finished the 2009 campaign in the national polls for the first time in school history when Baseball America ranked K-State No. 19 in its final poll.

Hill, who garnered 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors, directed K-State to its first ever NCAA Regional appearance when the Cats earned an at-large berth as the No. 2 seed in the Houston (Rice) Regional.

The Cats didn't stop there as they tallied a pair of victories in the regional, including one against No. 1 seed and home team Rice, to advance to the regional final.