E.C. Hill is in her fifth season as an assistant coach with the University of Arizona women's basketball staff. She came to Arizona after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois.
"We're very excited for E.C. to join our staff," Butts said. "She's a tremendous asset and she has tons of experience as a player. She's played at the level that our players are aspiring to be at. She has lots of energy and that's a must when you are rebuilding a program. We're excited for E.C. to join our Wildcat family.”
Hill currently works on the development of perimeter players, scouting opponents, game preparation and recruiting. She also handles scheduling games.
While at Arizona, Hill coached one of the most prolific scorers in program history in Candice Warthen. Warthen became Arizona’s 18th 1,000-point scorer and finished her career placed at No. 16 on the program’s all-time scoring list. She also earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors, a Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention, and Pac-12 Player of the Week honors on two separate occasions during her career.
Off the court, Hill helped orchestrate the original “#Chillin4Charity” movement that swept the nation, challenging other programs around the country to dump buckets of ice water on their heads in an effort to raise awareness for cancer and raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
Hill also served as a position coach for Arizona standout Davellyn Whyte, coaching her from her sophomore season to her senior season. Whyte finished her career as arguably the best player in Arizona women’s basketball history and was the 16th overall pick in the WNBA draft in 2013.
In Hill’s first campaign with UA in 2011-12, Arizona's 11-1 start was the best in program history since the 1999-2000 season. The Cats beat UCLA twice, the first a 74-66 victory at McKale Center on Jan. 5 and the second a Pac-12 Tournament 61-57 win on March 7. The January win marked UA’s first over the Bruins since 2006-07 and the first in Tucson since 2004-05.
During her six seasons at NIU, her alma mater, Hill was instrumental in the development of perimeter players, scouting opponents, game preparation and recruiting.
Hill is an NIU Athletics and Illinois Basketball Coaches' Association Hall of Famer and her name can be found throughout the Northern Illinois women's basketball record book. As a player, she helped lead the Huskies to three-straight NCAA Tournament berths under NIU Hall of Fame coach Jane Albright.
She was named a first-team U.S. Basketball Writers' Association All-American, a Kodak District Four All-American, a preseason Street and Smith's and Basketball Times All-American, Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year, first-team All-Mid-Con and All-Mid-Con Tournament on a 25-6 NCAA Tourney squad that won the 1993-94 Mid-Con regular-season title with an 18-0 record.
Hill led the league and ranked 16th nationally in scoring (22.0 ppg.). A two-time Northern Illinois MVP (1992-93, 1993-94), Hill was named the North Star Conference Newcomer of the Year with a 14.2 points per game average in 1991-92.
Hill played professional basketball for the New England Blizzard (1996-99) and Chicago Condors (1998-99) in the American Basketball League, with the Charlotte Sting (2000), Phoenix Mercury (2001), Los Angeles Sparks (2001) and Orlando Miracle (2002) in the WNBA and in many cities in Europe.
Hill's first coaching opportunity came at Robert Morris College in Chicago. She served as head coach during the 2004-05 season before returning to NIU for the 2005-06 campaign.
She graduated from Northern Illinois in 1995 with a degree in communications. Hill has a daughter, Asia Janay Murray. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
