Jay Hillock (born c. 1949) is an American former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He was the head coach for six seasons in the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

, four at Gonzaga in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

and two at

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Hillock was an assistant on staff at both programs before the respective promotions to head coach. His career record as a head coach was 91–78 (), and an even 39–39 in league play.

Gonzaga

A 1971 graduate of

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

, Hillock returned to his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

as an assistant under second-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald. It was GU's first season in the West Coast Athletic Conference, after sixteen years as a charter member of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. When Fitzgerald decided to step down after a 19–8 season in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and concentrate on his duties as

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

, Hillock was promoted to head coach of the Bulldogs at age 32. His most notable player was guard John Stockton, a first round selection in the 1984 NBA draft and a member of the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

. Hillock's most lauded victory was a one-point upset at DePaul in January

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, in coaching legend Ray Meyer's uncharacteristic penultimate season. Stockton's senior year in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

was Hillock's best in Spokane; the Zags were , but only tied for fourth in the conference at 6–6. Without Stockton in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, Gonzaga was and fell to fifth place in the WCAC at 4–8. Shortly after the 1985 season ended, Hillock voluntarily resigned and Fitzgerald returned as head coach. Hillock's overall record at Gonzaga was , but was in conference and the Bulldogs' best finish was a tie for fourth.Gonzaga Basketball History - Page 51 of 62
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Loyola Marymount

Within three weeks of his resignation at Gonzaga, Hillock accepted an assistant's job at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, originally under newly-hired head coach Jim Lynam, who soon left for an assistant's job in the NBA in June and never coached a game. Surprisingly, Hillock indicated he was interested in the open position, but LMU hired former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

head coach Paul Westhead, who retained him as an assistant. (Hillock had lost only once to LMU in eight meetings while head coach at Gonzaga.) Led by Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble in 1990, they went 13–1 () in the WCC, but following Gathers' tragic death during the conference tournament, its remainder was canceled and LMU took the WCC champions' slot in the NCAA Tournament. Despite being seeded 11th in the West region, the inspired Lions won three games and advanced to the Elite Eight. There they fell by thirty points to

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, the eventual national champion, and finished at 26–6 (). Westhead left for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

of the NBA that September, and Hillock was promoted to head coach of the Lions. He was 31–28 () in two seasons, with a conference record of 17–11 (), but lost in the first round of the conference tournament in both seasons. The following two years, the Lions finished in last place in the WCC.

After coaching

Hillock later worked for various teams in the NBA as a scout and in front office positions.

Head coaching record

*West Coast Athletic Conference was renamed

in summer 1989.

References

External links

Sports Reference
– Jay Hillock – head coaching record
Gonzaga University Digital Collections
– Jay Hillock {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillock, Jay Year of birth missing (living people) Living people California Polytechnic State University alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Gonzaga University alumni Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball coaches