COACHING STAFF
Head Coach
BRAD HILL
Hard work and determination have fueled Kansas State baseball since Brad Hill was introduced as the 20th head coach in program history during the summer of 2003. And, in 12 years, Hill has taken a program that was coming off six-straight seasons of bottom-half Big 12 finishes and turned it into a national power.
During his time as the K-State skipper, Hill has guided the Wildcats from the depths of the league to four NCAA Regional appearances, a Super Regional berth and the first conference championship since 1933. The success, which reached an all-time high in 2013, is a continuation of a stellar career in which Hill has amassed a winning percentage of .672 (808-394-3) at four-year schools - one of the highest marks among active Division I coaches after the 2015 season.
Hill has also had a keen eye on evaluating talent and then developing those players as 45 Wildcats since 2005 have been selected in the MLB Draft, including 39 in the past eight years and 31 that went undrafted out of high school. Since 2008, three or more Wildcats have been taken in the MLB Draft, with five or more being selected in six of the last eight drafts. Also over the last seven drafts, 12 Wildcats have been selected in the top 10 rounds, including Nate Griep (seventh) in 2015. In total, over the last 11 years, K-State has produced 52 selections in the MLB Draft.
K-State baseball players have also gained numerous national accolades under Hill's guidance. In the first 106 years of the program, the Wildcats accumulated 14 All-American designations, while K-State has produced 15 All-America honors in the last eight seasons alone, including first team honors by A.J. Morris (2009) and James Allen (2011) and the most recent selections, Jared King and Ross Kivett, in 2013.
Not only has K-State baseball excelled on the field, but Hill has put an emphasis on his players' performance in the classroom. Under Hill, the Cats have had 71 Academic All-Big 12 selections as well as eight Academic All-District honors and two Academic All-Americans (Brett Scott in 2007 and 2008; Jason King in 2011). In addition, K-State's Academic Progress Rate (APR) has steadily improved, now reflecting an outstanding four-year average of 954.
Coming off an unprecedented run in 2013 that carried with it preseason expectations never seen at K-State, the Wildcats finished 2014 with a 25-30 record and saw their seven-year run of reaching the Big 12 Championship Tournament come to an end. K-State did have several highlights during the 2014 campaign, however, including a 12-game winning streak in late February through mid-March, a streak that was the second-longest in program history. The Wildcats were also 20-11 at home, including 13-1 against nonconference opponents, and a pair of seniors, Kivett and RJ Santigate, were named to the ABCA Midwest All-Region Team. Both Kivett and Santigate (undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Angels) were among four Wildcats who went on to play professionally after the end of the season.
Pitching Coach
TYLER KINCAID
Kincaid established an impressive resume in the Golden State, rising from the high school to the Division I level. For six seasons prior to joining K-State, the California native was the pitching coach at the University of San Diego, helping the program win two West Coast Conference (WCC) regular season titles, capture one WCC Tournament championship and make three NCAA Regional appearances.
Kincaid gained a reputation as a strong recruiter and fine developer of pitchers. At USD, he helped 21 pitchers get selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, including 12 that were undrafted out of high school and/or junior college and seven taken in the top-10 rounds. From 2012-15, at least three pitchers from the San Diego pitching staff were drafted, with eight total over the last two seasons and six undrafted out of high school.
From a recruiting standpoint, Kincaid helped bring in two top-five nationally-ranked recruiting classes, including the second-ranked crop of incoming players in 2011. The 2014 recruiting class, meanwhile, was slotted as the fourth-best by Collegiate Baseball.
In Kincaid’s final season with the Toreros in 2015, San Diego won its sixth WCC regular season championship in program history behind a pitching staff that posted a 3.29 ERA in conference play. Kincaid helped groom David Hill into the WCC Pitcher of the Year and an All-American as the right-hander finished 14th in the country in strikeouts. As a team, the Toreros were 27th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings.
Hill was one of two WCC Pitcher of the Year award winners and four All-Americans Kincaid helped develop at San Diego. In 2010, Kyle Blair became the first Torero hurler under Kincaid’s watch to earn the top pitching honor in the conference. Michael Wagner (2013) and two-way player Louie Lechich (2014) join Blair and Hill as the quartet of All-Americans.
Also, Kincaid’s San Diego pitching staffs earned 15 All-WCC honors and two Freshman All-WCC selections in the half-dozen seasons. While the entire weekend rotation – Blair, A.J. Griffin and Sammy Solis – picked up first team honors in 2010, a pair of twirlers, Hill and P.J. Conlon, were all-conference first team selections in 2015.
