Hill Denson (1990) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Hill Denson

Induction:
1990

Hill Denson served as the head baseball coach at Southern Miss for fourteen years and has guided a program that has undergone explosive growth and has enjoyed unprecedented success.
   Denson also was a standout infielder for former Golden Eagle head coach Pete Taylor in 1965 and 1966. Following his playing days at Southern Miss, he was active in semi-pro baseball as both a player and a manager, and in 1982, he was named to the Mississippi Semi-pro Hall of Fame.
   Prior to accepting the Southern Miss job, Denson enjoyed a successful career as head coach at Jackson (Miss.) Callaway High School. He compiled a 216-73 record there during 10 seasons, and his team won a state championship and a pair of Big Eight Conference titles. Denson also had served as an assistant coach at Manhattan High School in Jackson and Chamberlain Hunt Academy in Port Gibson, Mississippi before taking over at Callaway High.
   Denson returned to his alma mater in 1984 to replace Taylor, who had served as head coach for 25 years.
   When Denson was hired as head coach, the Golden Eagles had produced winning records in just two of the previous nine seasons. After taking two years to get the program headed back in the right direction, Denson’s teams have produced winning records in each of the past 12 seasons, the longest such streak in school history.
   One of the high water marks of the program came in 1990 and 1991 when the Golden Eagles were invited to two consecutive NCAA tournaments.
   In 1990, the Golden Eagles won a historic 42 games, including a second place showing in the Metro Conference regular season. Along with the school record 42 wins, came that first bid to the NCAA tournament. The 1991 team again won 42 games in advancing to the NCAA regionals and tied for the Metro Conference tournament title with Florida State.
   Not only has the Southern Miss program been successful on the field during the Denson era, the program is also one of the more successful teams in the nation at the gate. The Golden Eagles have regularly ranked among the top school in the nation in attendance, a direct reflection upon the success of the program under Denson.
   During his tenure at Southern Miss, Denson has produced eight All-Americans, over 20 all-conference performers and has sent over 30 Golden Eagles to the ranks of professional baseball. His career coaching record at Southern Miss was 468-386-2, making him the winningiest coach in school history.
   In 1989 Denson was named the Metro Conference Co-Coach of the Year and in 1990 was named the Metro Conference Coach of the Year.
   Denson’s efforts at Southern Miss have included more than just coaching. Since his arrival, Taylor Park has been dedicated, new dugouts, a lighting system, an underground watering system, and a new speaker system have been installed. The stadium now has a 1,670 seat grandstand that expands seating capacity to better than 3,500, new press box facilities and a new scoreboard thanks to Denson’s efforts.
   In 1999 the field at Pete Taylor Park was named Hill Denson Field.