One of the greats. Just not enough words that can be said.
Fred Hill has died.
- Thread starter RU4Real
- Start date
The baseball coach in case anyone else was confused by a vague title.
Besides baseball he was 52-16-4 coaching Montclair State football.
RIP Loyal Son of Rutgers.
They should ring the bell for this one.
They should ring the bell for this one.
Thought we should have gave him a shot as football coach. RIP. Greatest coach in RU history.
If you never saw a Fred Hill ran practice, you missed a memorable learning experience.
RIP Moose
RIP Moose
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Matt Bolger temprarily took over the football team in 1957 when John Steigman was hospitalized with symptoms of pneumonia. Bolger later changed sports and from 1961-83 went 288-245-7 as head coach of the baseball team. At the time of his retirement, he had more sports wins than any coach in Rutgers history and in 2001 entered Rutgers Baseball Hall of Fame. Bolger was replaced by Fred “Moose” Hill, Sr. who retired on February 20, 2014. His 30 year Rutgers career produced a 941-658-7 (.588) record and overall collegiate record of 1,089-749-9 (.592). On March 27, 2006, his son, Fred Hill Jr., was named Rutgers basketball coach until 2009.
Jerry Izenberg just posted an article on Fred Hill:
https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2019/03/...-fred-hill-was-a-baseball-lifer-izenberg.html
https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2019/03/...-fred-hill-was-a-baseball-lifer-izenberg.html
I remember Eric Young advocated Coach Hill for RU's football coach: "He could motivate a rock." RIP
i spoke with Coach Hill about that. He DID apply for the FB job when Frank Burns was fired. Told NO.RU FB would be at a different level today if he had been hired.
My brother (an Upsala College grad and football player there) and I met Fred Hill at a Park Ridge HS Athletics Hall of Fame banquet some years ago. One of Fred’s uncles (or possibly a cousin) was being inducted posthumously and Fred gave a short, appreciative induction talk. He couldn’t be nicer talking to two complete strangers (who are Rutgers fans) after his presentation. He reminisced about his days at Upsala College and talked about Rutgers baseball, football, and basketball. We thought what a solid representative he was for Rutgers.
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Very sad news. One of my better tailgate memories was a few years ago when Coach Hill and his wife visited our tailgate for a few hours. Everyone was excited to meet him ( I remember introducing him to Piscataway Mike) and talking to him for a fww hours. He was a straightshooter and when I asked if he would have made a good head RU football coach he said he thought he would have. You could see how guys would like to play for him. Very respectful of his former players. A great representative of Rutgers and an argument can be made for best RU coach of R times-not easy to recruit top players to a cold weather school. Condolences to the Hill family and all. Rest in Peace Coach.
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I asked Moose about coaching football during the Shea era.
He looked at me, laughed...and said.
“I can tell you one thing, you wouldn’t see a false start or an offside on Saturday’s.
And if the game was close in the last 3 minutes of either half, we’d have 3 time outs to use”
RIP Coach Hill you'll always be remembered as one of the three Rutgers Greats, along with Frank Burns and Tom Young
A NJ baseball icon. I used to do Rutgers baseball camps as a kid and Hill would show up for the entire afternoon hitting fungos, giving individual attention and running practice like it was his own team, instead of a bunch of 12-15 year olds. Looking back, that’s a pretty awesome thing for him to do.
The Mets broadcast crew just spent half an inning talking about Coach Hill, remembering what a great baseball guy he was and walking through the list of major league players who played for him.
Todd Frazier talks about Fred Hill:
https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2019/03/...per-fred-hill-he-was-an-old-school-coach.html
https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2019/03/...per-fred-hill-he-was-an-old-school-coach.html
The most wins of any HC ever at Rutgers.
Total legend.
RIP
Total legend.
RIP
I remember going to his camp when I was 13. He was an old school guy and a local legend and I was a middling 13 year old player... of course I was intimidated when he started giving me some pointed feedback while he watched some game situation drills. But I quickly realized that the guy only had one motive: he wanted me to get better. It really felt like he cared about my game. He wasn't there just to collect a few extra bucks and aid his future recruiting efforts.
Great credit to our university, state, sports, everything. RIP.
Great credit to our university, state, sports, everything. RIP.
Coach Hill’s practices definitely felt like a football coach who was coaching baseball at times. He was tough but fair and with enough of a sense of humor to relate to college kids.
There are many reasons he was a Hall of Fame baseball coach, but I think in the end the biggest one was he was a great man.
RIP Moose
There are many reasons he was a Hall of Fame baseball coach, but I think in the end the biggest one was he was a great man.
RIP Moose
Something less important but telling of the man's character -- he was one of the few coaches who always called you back. And "straight shooter' doesn't begin to explain Hill. You knew what he was thinking AND why he was thinking it.
Just a real baseball man. Always felt good knowing he was running our baseball program.
Just a real baseball man. Always felt good knowing he was running our baseball program.
If you add in Hayes for lax and our soccer team then we really had a quality mens sports program then, as an undergrad those years it set my expectations.
RIP coach Hill.
I think 80% + people on this board either weren't around then or don't even know.
I watched the Rutgers 76 bball special about 4 times and then just realized RU wasn't even coed until just a couple of years b4 I enrolled.
My guess is most folks on here 1990 or better.
Yep, we were quite good at those sports back then. My wife worked with both Coach Hill and Coach Reasso, as she worked for the News Tribune in the late 80s and they sponsored clinics/camps both coaches put on. She always said what a sweetheart Coach Hill was (Reasso not as much, lol - he dated my sister's best friend for a few years and let's just say he wasn't so nice to her), as she was supposed to introduce Coach Hill at the start of the clinic to everyone and he asked her what she was going to say and she just froze and told him she just couldn't do a public speech. Instead of being a jerk about it, he just said no problem, I'll introduce myself and went on to do so and said some nice words about the Tribune (they had worked together to put the clinic on and he knew she was a hard worker, but just way too shy).