Texas Rio Grande Valley says men's basketball coach coach Lew Hill has died. His death Sunday came a day after coaching what was his final game. The 55-year-old Hill was in his fifth season as coach of the Vaqueros, who lost 77-75 against Texas Southern on Saturday night. The school says the cause of death wasn't known, and didn’t provide any other details. Before Rio Grande Valley, Hill was an assistant coach for Lon Kruger and Oklahoma and UNLV.
Hill began his college career at San Jacinto College where he helped the team win the 1984 NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship title, while also earning JUCO All-American honors. Hill completed his college career at Wichita State under Eddie Fogler, earning All-Missouri Valley Conference honors as a senior.
After his playing career, Hill got his coaching start at Wichita East High School as an assistant coach for one season before entering the college ranks to join the staff of South Alabama. Following stops at SE Missouri State and East Carolina, Hill joined Melvin Watkins's staff at Texas A&M, where he stayed until 2004.
Hill then joined Lon Kruger's staff at UNLV, and followed him to Oklahoma, where he was part of eight NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four appearance by the Sooners during the 2015-16 season.[4]
In 2016, Hill accepted the head coaching position at Texas–Rio Grande Valley, replacing Dan Hipsher.