WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Tisha Hill is selected as YSU's coach

The Ball State aide won out over Liz Hauger-Grzesk and Joanna Bernabei.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State athletic director Ron Strollo will introduce Tisha Hill as the university's new women's basketball coach today at a 3 p.m. press conference.
Hill, the second-year assistant coach at Ball State, was one of four finalists interviewed last week.
She was selected over Liz Hauger-Grzesk and Joanna Bernabei. Jodi Kest, who also was interviewed, withdrew her interest on Saturday.
Hill takes over a YSU program that was led by Ed DiGregorio for the past 20 seasons before resigning a month ago.
The Penguins have had back-to-back losing seasons as a member of the Horizon League and last season finished in last place.
First post
This will be Hill's first head coaching position after 10 seasons as an assistant, all in Division I.
She began her career at her alma mater, Indiana University, where she spent two seasons as a graduate assistant.
Hill was an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay for two years, and then spent four seasons at Virginia Tech, where the Hokies made the NCAA Tournament two times.
The past two seasons, Hill has been the recruiting coordinator at Ball State, helping the Cardinals to a WNIT berth last season after losing to Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference championship game.
Hill referred to herself as a defensive-oriented coach who doesn't like the run and gun offense.
Her recruiting will be centered in Ohio, where she has a solid reputation. She is a native of Cleveland Heights.
Similarity
Hill said there is a lot of similarity between the MAC and the Horizon League as solid mid-major basketball conferences.
"I'm going to be a recruiter here, I'm going to be very visible in the community and I'm going to win," she said during her interview last week.
She said last week that she had a short list of people who were interested in joining her as assistant coaches. But she said that she also wanted to talk with the current YSU assistant coaches before making any final decisions.
mollica@vindy.com