Linda Hill-MacDonald has been named interim head coach of women’s basketball at Fredonia State University, bringing with her an impressive résumé of over 30 years at the high school, major college, and professional levels.
Hired to coach the Blue Devils for the 2013-14 season, Hill-MacDonald inherits a team which finished 12-12 last season, including 7-11 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference.
A three-sport athlete at Ridley High School in Folsom, Pa., she spent 10 years as a high school coach before becoming the first full-time head coach at Temple University in 1980. She later served as head coach at the University of Minnesota, and the University at Buffalo, as well as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina.She also was the head coach of the WNBA Cleveland Rockers, and worked for two other WNBA teams.
At Temple, she coached the Owls for 10 seasons and won a program-record 166 games. Her teams made one NCAA and two WNIT appearances. Hill-MacDonald was twice chosen Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, and she was named Big 5 Coach of the Year once and Philadelphia Area Coach of the Year once.
She left Temple for Minnesota in 1990, and her best season came in 1993-94 when the Gophers finished 18-11. Entrusted with raising the team’s overall academic performance, Hill-MacDonald had 20 players named Academic All-Big Ten during her seven seasons. She had previously served as an academic advisor at Temple, where she was in charge of study skill sessions and tutoring programs for all female student-athletes.
In 1997, Cleveland was granted one of eight original WNBA franchises, and team owner Gordon Gund chose Hill-MacDonald as the team’s first head coach. The Rockers – the nickname drawn from the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame – finished 15-13 in their first season, and then improved to 20-10 in 1998 to win the Eastern Conference title before losing to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA semi-finals. She coached the Rockers through the 1999 season, and was chosen to coach the Eastern Conference in the 1999 WNBA All-Star Game.
After leaving Cleveland, Hill-MacDonald had two stints as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina, and served as an assistant coach for the WNBA Washington Mystics and a scout for the WNBA New York Liberty, before she landed the head coaching job at the University at Buffalo in 2005.
In addition to her UB coaching duties, she directed and her teams participated in community outreach and volunteer programs. She also took part in various public relations and fund-raising activities, and organized and directed summer basketball camps. She coached the Bulls through the end of the 2011-2012 season.
Originally from Morton, Pa., Hill-MacDonald attended West Chester University, where she earned athletic awards in field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and recreation. She also earned a master’s degree in physical education from West Chester, and is both a member of the West Chester Athletic Hall of Fame and a West Chester Distinguished Alumni. She is a member of the Ridley Township Old Timers’ Hall of Fame.
Among her numerous professional honors, Hill-MacDonald served as president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and on numerous women’s basketball national committees. She is the 1989 recipient of the WBCA Carol Eckman Award and was honorary chairperson of the 1991 International Special Olympics.
Hill-MacDonald has a daughter, Kelli, and a son, Scott.
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