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Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER
UTRGV Head Basketball Coach Lew Hill is being remembered as a caring individual who supported the Athletics staff and the community.
Hill, 55, died unexpectedly Feb. 7 after coaching a game against Texas Southern University the day before in Houston.
Coach Hill, who was born in Mount Vernon, New York, played as the point guard for San Jacinto Junior College and was named an All-American player during his 1983-1984 season. He previously coached for five seasons at the University of Oklahoma and began his tenure at UTRGV in 2016. He led the UTRGV team to eight victories in 10 games in the 2019-2020 season.
UTRGV Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said Hill was admired by fellow staff members.
“He was, and he is, a figure that everybody in this department knew,” Conque said. “He was somebody that everybody looked up to because we hired new coaches. He was usually one of the first to reach out to them. He was a veteran coach, and so we had coaches that would always go and pick his brain. He was also the same guy that would be at a soccer match, volleyball match, baseball [game], and he supported everything.”
He noted the importance of supporting Athletics.
“Our focus, right now, [are] student athletes and our coaches,” Conque said. “[We are] making sure that we have our arms wrapped around them to make sure that we can make it each day emotionally, spiritually, physically [and] mentally.”
Jonah Goldberg, senior associate athletic director for communications, explained that UTRGV is not looking at changing coaching staff this season.
“They’re not going to change the coaching staff this year,” Goldberg said. “Everyone who’s here [will] remain on board.”
He described Hill as friendly and caring.
“Coach Hill cared so deeply about everyone on campus,” Goldberg said. “He loved his players and coaches, for sure. He cared deeply about the staff at Athletics, and he definitely cared about [other things]. The thing that set him apart was that he liked to surprise people in their offices with breakfast tacos, and I don’t just mean Athletic staff. I mean, anybody on campus, and I remember seeing him a couple of times with these huge bags of breakfast tacos, and he and one of the other staff members would just walk around campus and just pop into offices. If somebody was there, he would give them a taco and just thank them for everything they do for UTRGV students.”
He said Hill had a heart condition.
“We don’t know the cause of death, specifically,” Goldberg said. “But he had a condition. It is amyloidosis. [It is] a very rare heart condition.”
Hill also tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 22, which led to a 10-day shutdown of the men’s basketball team.
Goldberg emphasized the cause of death has not been confirmed.
“[His wife] mentioned that they had gotten the diagnosis Jan. 10, [and] that they had been dealing with this since last March,” Goldberg said. “So, that’s that, [but] we don’t know that’s the cause of death. I want to be very clear.”
There will be a memorial service for Hill in the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Feb. 23. More information about the event will be announced closer to the day.
Hill is survived by his wife, Renee; their two children, Lewis Jr. and Elle; and three daughters from a previous marriage: Sierra, Erica and Asya.
