After a dismal 24-31 season, Athletic Director Joe Alleva decided it was time for a change at historic Jack Coombs Field.
Alleva announced the hiring of a new head baseball coach yesterday, UNC-Asheville's Bill Hillier. Hillier has been with the Bulldogs for the past five years, and before his stint as UNC-Asheville's head man, he served seven years as the pitching coach at Duke.
"He knows Duke," Alleva said. "If you look at some of our best players [in the past], he recruited them all. He's a great recruiter. I'm very excited about getting Bill back. I really think he can change our whole attitude and make us really competitive, in a short period of time too. He'll do a great job."
This year at UNC-Asheville, Hillier compiled a 20-39 record while playing a demanding schedule. Although he was on the road recruiting yesterday, through a statement released by the school Hillier said he was excited to be returning to Duke.
"This is a dream come true for me," said Hillier, who owns the Asheville record for career wins 97. "I've been coaching for 19 years and there is no place I'd rather be than at Duke. I'm looking forward to returning a program that I care so much about.... I intend to take Duke to a new level of success and look forward to tackling that challenge immediately."
Last Thursday, the athletic department announced former coach Steve Traylor's contract would not be renewed.
Traylor had been the head coach since 1988, but following the Blue Devils' first losing season in eight years, Alleva decided it was time to give the program a new look.
"I think Steve did a good job getting our program where it is," he said. "But I just felt like the program
During his 12 years at Duke, Traylor amassed a 356-286-1 career record with the Blue Devils. When he arrived in Durham he took over a slumping program, and suffered through a 10-35 opening campaign.
"I didn't have much of a reaction," Traylor said. "It's just one of those things where you just take it, deal with it and move on."
Alleva pointed to several factors, noting that Traylor never led Duke to an NCAA tournament and that during Traylor's time at the University, Duke won just 33 percent of its ACC games. Although Traylor was riding a streak of seven straight winning seasons before last spring, his ACC record during that span was only .500 or better twice.
"My goal [for this program] is really simple," Alleva explained. "I want us to be in the NCAA tournament. There are 64 teams in the NCAA tournament, and I think we should be one of them."
Alleva's son, J.D., is currently a shortstop on the team while another son, Jeff, will be a freshman next year. Alleva said that J.D. played no role in his decision.
"I didn't treat him like my son, I treated him like he was a baseball player," said the elder Alleva. "Before I made my decision, I talked to about five or six of the current members of the team and my son was not one of them. I didn't want to put that pressure on him. He found out about Coach Traylor when he read about it in the papers. I didn't even tell him."
Alleva said Hillier was always his first choice, based on Hillier's reputation as a recruiter and his past experience at Duke. Alleva spoke with several former players, and all of them spoke of the great relationship they had with Hillier.
"I know what Bill can do and I know what kind of hard worker he is," Alleva said. "I also know he'll develop tremendous relationships with our players. That's what I'm looking for. I want someone that can relate to the players, build a good family atmosphere for the team and be out on the road and recruit really hard. He's a tremendous recruiter. Those are the things we need to get our program back."
Earlier this week, Traylor said he was not necessarily surprised by Alleva's decision, indicating that rumors of his departure had spread during the course of the season.
"Somehow the word had gotten around that this might happen," Traylor said. "There were rumors out there during the season that we heard and some players heard, so it wasn't necessarily a good situation this year. It's just something you have to deal with though."
Alleva informed Traylor of his decision a week before the official announcement and Traylor had interviews with several different schools.
He eventually accepted the head coaching position at Wofford College, according to The News & Observer of Raleigh.
The departure of Traylor raises questions about the future of the rest of his coaching staff.
Alleva said the futures of assistant coaches David Koblentz and Chris McMullan would be up to Hillier, but Alleva believed that the new coach would probably be interested in keeping both assistants.
Neither coach was available for comment, but Traylor indicated that both coaches were contemplating their futures. Alleva confirmed that McMullan has been seeking a head coaching job for quite some time, but he was unsure of any definitive plans.
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