The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

College Sports

Related Photos

  • Mountain State’s Isaiah Hill brings the ball down court during the Cougars’ first practice last month at Van Meter Gymnasium in Beckley. Register-Herald file photo

    1023MSU
October 23, 2011

Mountain State coach bags a top shelf recruit

By Dave Morrison Sports Editor

If this works out as expected, Mountain State University coach Bob Bolen may end up looking for more bargains at Walmart.

Bolen got a tip from Beckley-area AAU coach Mike Fowlkes that there was an outstanding basketball player, Isaiah Hill, working at a Walmart in the Richmond area. Hill was a 6-foot-8 standout at Hagerstown Community College and had averaged a double-double for his career.

So Bolen got on the phone and started calling Richmond area Walmarts.

His first call went to the Tappahannock Walmart Supercenter.

“I asked them if they had an Isaiah Hill working there,” Bolen said. “A lady said she didn’t think so, but they put me on hold. I was on hold for about 11 minutes and they transferred to sporting goods. I asked a lady there if they had an Isaiah Hill. She said she didn’t think so.

“Then she said, ‘Wait, I think that guy out in the lot pushing buggies is named Isaiah.’ I was on hold for about 20 minutes. Then, Isaiah picked up the phone.”

Hill remembers it well.

“I was worried that something happened to someone in my family, because nobody called me at work,” he said. “It was a surprise.”

One minute you’re stocking shelves, the next you are playing basketball for one of the top NAIA programs in the country.

Hill would likely be playing for a Division I team if he had graduated from Hagerstown, where he averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds as a freshman and 18 and 14 as a sophomore.

His senior year at King Williams High (Va.), he averaged 28 points and 15 rebounds. Former Maryland coach Gary Williams even came to watch him play.

But grades forced him to attend Hagerstown, where he starred for two years.

After talking to Bolen, Hill did some studying of the program. He took a visit in early June and by July he was enrolled in the second semester of summer school, where he got the necessary classwork to gain his eligibility.

“I always knew that I was going to go back to school and play somewhere,” said Hill, who had offers from Shaw, Pikeville (Ky.) and Virginia Union and once had offers from the likes of Division I heavy-hitters like Georgetown and Maryland, as well as ECU and LaSalle.

“I was just working to help my family out. Make some money. The job was OK. Working at Walmart wasn’t going to be something I was going to do forever.”

He hasn’t disappointed at MSU.

“He’s been out a year so he is shaking off some of the dust,” Bolen said. “But he’s 6-8, he’s very athletic and he can shoot the ball. We knew about him in junior college. But it was Mike Fowlkes, who was helping some kids get into junior colleges, who told us he might be available.”

Hill is thankful for the opportunity.

“I just can’t wait to start playing again; it’s been a while,” he said. “I just want to get a degree and, like everybody else who plays basketball, play in the NBA. If that doesn’t work out, play overseas. I want to make money playing basketball.”

And not make it stocking shelves.

Hill and the new-look Cougars start the season Saturday, when MSU hosts Bluefield State at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center at 4 p.m.

Hill admitted that he has gone to the Beckley Walmart “a couple times” and saw an employee doing his old job.

“And I just thought to myself, ‘Man, I’m glad that isn’t me,’” Hill said.

Bolen is just happy with the bargain he found at the supercenter in Tappahannock, Va.

Text Only
College Sports
  • 051913 KWarriors.jpg King’s Warriors take down Chaos 3-1

    Southern West Virginia King’s Warriors head coach Scott Reitnour had a busy day Saturday.

    May 19, 2013 1 Photo

  • McCartney says he’s returning to Mountaineers

    The Twitter world was full of West Virginia University sports news Saturday, beginning with the revelation that Ivan McCartney will likely be returning to the Mountaineer football team.

    May 19, 2013

  • Harrick was greatest 2-sport coach at WVU

    The late Steve Harrick was the longest serving, most successful two-sport head coach in West Virginia University’s athletic history.

    May 18, 2013

  • Concord wastes 2-run lead in 9th, eliminated from regional

    Concord University lost a two-run lead in the ninth inning and was eliminated from the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region baseball playoffs by the Winston-Salem State Rams, 7-5 on Friday afternoon at Gene Hooks Field.

    May 18, 2013

  • Musgrave named Pitcher of the Year Finalist

    May 16, 2013

  • Concord drops NCAA Tournament opener to Millersville 5-4 in Winston-Salem

    May 16, 2013

  • Crutchfield talks about his system, recruiting, focus

    Jim Crutchfield, whose basketball program at West Liberty University is the nation’s best in NCAA Division II, insists that there’s really no secret to his team’s soaring success.
    The Hilltoppers not only lead the collegiate basketball world in scoring with an incredible 103-point average but also are No. 1 in marginal victory at 25-plus.
    “I try to stay as local as I can in recruiting,” the 57-year-old Clarksburg native said. Most of his players come from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

    May 16, 2013

  • 051613 wvu marshall ‘It’s been great for the state’

    West Virginia and Marshall are going to continue to meet on the baseball diamond. After a nearly 15-year break in the series, all involved agreed that rekindling the rivalry between the state’s two biggest schools — a series that culminated with a 6-5 Marshall victory Tuesday at Linda K. Epling Stadium — was a solid idea.

    May 15, 2013 1 Photo

  • WVU closes season against OSU

    The West Virginia University baseball team will close out the regular season this weekend against Big 12 foe Oklahoma State at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., and there will be a great deal on the line.

    May 15, 2013

  • Brett Morris will walk on at WVU

    The West Virginia University basketball team will be filled with southern West Virginia flavor next season after Brett Morris announced this week that he’ll be joining head coach Bob Huggins’ program as a preferred walk-on. Morris, the Class AA all-state captain, will join Shady Spring’s Chase Connor, who will also be walking on for the Mountaineers, and Greenbrier East’s Richard Romeo, who is already a walk-on in the program.

    May 15, 2013