Boise State women’s head coach Kristin Hill has resigned, according to a report in the Idaho Statesman and a press release by the school. Hill had helmed the Broncos since the team’s inaugural 2006-2007 season and had guided the team to notable success.
It only took the Broncos four seasons as a program to win their first Western Athletic Conference championship, and they’ve won three more conference titles since then. Hill’s early success led to her being named as the conference coach of the year two times.
Additionally, Boise State has regularly had women swimming at NCAA championships, and has had five All-American honorable mentions, which is a good amount of success for a program that is relatively new, as well as a mid-major.
Part of Hill’s statement in the school press release:
“After nine wonderful years of building a program here at Boise State, and 18 years of college coaching, I have decided that it is time to spend more time with my young children and my husband. They have all sacrificed so much to allow me to pursue this dream as a Division I college coach, and now I feel a strong pull to give more back to them and allow our family to spend more time together.
“Coaching is a passion of mine, particularly at the college level where we can help swimmers realize their dreams, and I hope to return to the sport in the future. Boise State is a phenomenal place and I will miss the support and relationships with our administration, fellow coaches, and each student-athlete I have been fortunate to work with. I’m very appreciative that they selected me to start the program back in 2006, and I will truly miss working with the outstanding team and their families coming in this fall.”
Before coming to Boise State to start its program, Hill sent six years an assistant coach at Texas A&M.
Hill’s resignation is at least the third by a notable female coach this summer, coming on the heels of Cal women’s associate head coach Kristen Cunnane‘s resignation, and Tasha Marchant, head coach of the Colorado state champs Fossil Ridge High School team also announcing that she was stepping down. In both instances,the coaches, like Hill, cited family considerations as their primary motivation.
There is currently no word on possible replacements for Hill, and the school press release said that a national search will begin immediately.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire. One doesn’t recruit one weekend, & “resign” the next. Sounds like a forced resignation. And the lesser coaches always serve at the pleasure of the head coach.
Kristin Hill is staying on with Boise State in the interim to help get things in place for the next staff – through Aug 12. Several of the press releases mentioned this.
Wow, another woman leaves the sport to spend more time with family. Are there currently any other female assistants or head coaches at the Major Division I level (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Pac12, Big12) that have a family? I can think of 2. There’s a story for SwimSwam, “how to make coaching work with a family: work/life balance.”
Kristin Hill is a great person and did an unbelievable job at Boise State. I wish her the best in her next steps and will miss seeing her at the pool.
Kristen is a class act! Everyone associated with Boise Swimming and Diving will miss you! Best of luck in your next chapter!
A great coach and even better person. Kristin did wonderful things for the sport of Swimming and also for Boise State. She will be missed, but not forgotten. I wish her the best on the next phase of her life with her family.
Well said. Great coach and great person! Wish them all the best!!
I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Hill on a few occasions. She is a very nice lady and did one h*ll of a fantastic job coaching the Broncos. I remember her first season coaching the swimmers at the West Boise YMCA. The team did not have hardly any talented swimmers and a good high school girls team would have beaten them soundly. In a few short years they had swimmers qualifying for the NCAA’s and scoring points.
I want to wish her the best of luck in the future. The job she did at BSU was nothing short of unbelievably great. I’d hire her to coach my team any day.
Kristin did an amazing job with at a school with no prior swimming history. She is a great coach and did an amazing job at Boise. Her student athletes were fiercely competitive and she will be greatly missed in our Conference. No matter the gender, this profession is really tough on coaches families. I have extremely fortunate to be married to the same person for 27 years (for the many of you know me, the woman is a saint) and we have two great kids. They have been unbelievably understanding. I feel like one of the fortunate few.