{"id":3677,"date":"2021-02-11T19:55:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T01:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=3677"},"modified":"2021-02-11T19:59:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T01:59:17","slug":"newheadcoach0211","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/11\/newheadcoach0211\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaqueros Name Interim Head Coach for Men\u2019s Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
UTRGV Athletics has announced men’s basketball assistant head coach Jai Steadman will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season after the sudden passing of Head Coach Lew Hill Sunday. COURTESY GRAPHIC\/UTRGV ATHLETICS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced<\/a><\/strong> men\u2019s basketball assistant coach Jai Steadman will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steadman will now lead the programs after Head Coach Lew Hill passed away unexpectedly Sunday, Feb. 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a news conference Thursday via Zoom, Steadman spoke about carrying Hill\u2019s legacy at UTRGV for the final month of the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs long as I\u2019m here his legacy will continue,” Stedman says. “We\u2019ll play and compete as hard as Coach Hill\u2019s instilled on us, it\u2019s the only way we know how to do things.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Their friendship goes back to 1999 when the two first met as Hill, then an assistant coach at Texas A&M University, went to Tyler Junior College on a recruiting visit where Steadman was an assistant coach.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a news conference Wednesday via Zoom, Steadman recounted his impressions of Hill when the two first met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe had a glow to him, and I knew a lot of coaches back then,” Steadman says. “He is one of the few\u2026, \u2018man, I want to be like this guy when I get older.\u2019 His charisma, his attention to detail, his personality, everybody everywhere we would go would come up to him asking him questions.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Steadman\u2019s coaching background includes 22 years of experience spanning the high school, college and professional levels before joining then legacy institution University of Texas Pan-American in 2014 under former Head Coach Dan Hipsher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Hill was hired as head coach at UTRGV in March 2016, he kept Steadman on his staff where he would remain for the past seven years overseeing on-court coaching, recruiting, scheduling and scouting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Steadman admits that this is not how he would have wanted to become a head coach, he has spoken to members of the Hill family about the responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust to hear it from his brother and his wife and his family telling me, \u2018Come on Stead, let\u2019s keep this thing going. You can do it,’\u201d he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

UTRGV Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque says he cherishes Steadman stepping into a new position during a difficult time in a news conference Thursday via Zoom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJai brings a lot to the table, brings a lot of institutional knowledge, he brings a lot of knowledge about our program,” Conque says. “A lot of knowledge about what Coach Hill has instilled in our program and so I truly believe we are in great hands as we take this next step in this journey during, again, most unusual circumstances.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the remainder of the season Steadman says the program will look to win a WAC Title come March by taking inspirations from the lesson Coach Hill has left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will be done and the players we recruited, his style, the way we practice and everything he\u2019s taught us is the formula for success and we will do our best to complete the journey and win this championship,\u201d Steadman says.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Vaqueros are not scheduled to play this weekend as the team continues to take\u00a0 time to mourn<\/a><\/strong> the loss of Hill but are slated to return to the hardwood 7 p.m. Feb. 19 and 20 as they host Seattle U.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can watch the game live on the WAC Digital Network at wacdigitalnetwork.com<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter: @Radio_Rubio<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced men\u2019s basketball assistant coach Jai Steadman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-radio","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nVaqueros Name Interim Head Coach for Men\u2019s Basketball - The Valley's Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/11\/newheadcoach0211\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vaqueros Name Interim Head Coach for Men\u2019s Basketball - 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