With over 30 years of success in the basketball and recruiting worlds, Eddie Hill joins that Cal State Bakersfield program with great familiarity with The Big West. Last season, Hill served as the Associate Head Coach for Campbell University, guiding the Fighting Camels to the CAA semifinals after signing leading scorer and First Team All-Conference honoree DJ Smith.
Hill spent the three seasons prior as the Associate Head Coach for UC Riverside, managing all aspects of program development. His efforts helped the Highlanders achieve a school-record 22 wins in 2023 and 21 wins in 2025 with a school record 14 Big West wins in both seasons. Under his tenure as Associate Head Coach, the program earned major conference accolades, including 2023 Big West Coach of the Year honors for Head Coach Mike Magpayo and Freshman of the Year awards for Lachlan Olbrich (2023) and Barrington Hargress (2024). Hill also helped develop several players who went on to sign professional contracts, including Zyon Pullin (NBA), Flynn Cameron, Lachlan Olbrich, and Ben Griscti (all NBL).
Hill also served the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach at the University of South Dakota under Todd Lee, where he helped guide the Yotes to a 19-12 record. The stint in Vermillion, S.D. marked a return to the NCAA as he spent the previous 20 years working in a variety of areas of the basketball world.
From 2019-2022, Hill was the Head Coach of ProSkills Basketball, a 17U Nike EYBL team where he developed NBA players Cason Wallace (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Micah Peavy (New Orleans Pelicans). The year prior, he was the Head Coach/General Manager of a brand new ABA squad, the Plano Mighty Kings. As the Owner/Founder of 2inspire Recruiting Ltd/Kaye Bassman International, Hill ran the day-to-day operations of his global executive recruiting firm from 2002-2021, executing senior-level executive recruitment of candidates for organizations across the USA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Hill began his coaching career at the University of Portland, which began a seven-year span working with NCAA programs from the West Coast as well as UTEP.
“Eddie was my assistant coach at University of South Dakota,” said Lee, “so we know each other really well and have a great relationship. Eddie played at Washington State for Coach Kelvin Sampson and grew up in the Los Angeles area. He also has a great work ethic, recruiting and being in the gym with our guys. He was at UC Riverside as Associate Head Coach just a couple of years ago and they were very successful for a number of years he was there.”