Terps' Basketball Coach, Former BSU Player, Reflects on Laurel Days

After two years of high school at McNamara in Forestville, Dalonte Hill wanted a new challenge in the mid-1990s.

Then a young basketball player, Hill wanted the chance to suit up for a school that played more games and a tougher schedule.

So for his junior year he ended up in downtown Laurel at Laurel Baptist Academy, a season after All-American Louis Bullock played for the school. Hill, who grew up in Landover, said he rode with teammate Artie Wills--who went on to play at St. Francis, PA-- and another teammate to get to Laurel Baptist, which he said had about 45 to 60 students.

Hill, after a circuitous high school and college playing career, is back once again in Prince George's County. He is a first-year assistant men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland, College Park under Mark Turgeon, who replaced Gary Williams last spring.

"I felt it was an opportunity I had to take a look at," Hill said of leaving an associate head coaching post at Kansas State to coach at Maryland. "I had not been to the Comast Center until the day I interviewed. I played at Cole Field House growing up."

"I viewed this as a place you can come in and win a national championship," he added, "if we can do a good job of keeping those young guys in town at the University of Maryland."

Hill was very involved in the AAU scene while at Kansas State. "I don't know how it was before (at Maryland). I know we are very involved with AAU," Hill said of the new staff.

Hill said he still has relatives in the area, including a nephew who lives in Lanham.

"I can do things I have not done the past five years. I get to hang out with friends," said Hill, who got to see his nephew play a football game recently in White Marsh.

After playing his junior year at the now-shuttered Laurel Baptist, Hill followed head coach Chris Chaney to Newport Prep in Montgomery County. After his senior year he headed to Division I Charlotte in North Carolina, where he played from 1997 to 2000.

Hill played his final season of college basketball at Division II Bowie State, where he averged more than 10 points and five rebounds per game. Injuries cut short his career and he returned to Charlotte in order to complete his degree.

After five years on the staff at Kansas State, Hill joined the staff of Turgeon earlier this year. Among the recruits that Hill helped land at Kansas State was Michael Beasley, who grew up in Prince George's County and went to the NBA after one year of college at Kansas State.

Hill graduated from Charlotte in 2001 with a degree in sociology and was later an assistant coach there. One of the players for Charlotte while he was on the coaching staff was Eddie Basden, who played at Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt and later in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls.

One current Maryland freshman who can relate to Hill is Arnold Richmond, a walk-on guard from Suitland who played at Crossland High in southern Prince George's County.

"I felt I would have something in common with him since we are both from the same area. He used to coach with DC Assault and I played with DC Assault," Richmond said. "He is like a legend with DC Assault. He is a very good coach. He works with you. He is patient."

“Dalonte Hill is a local guy with a lot of connections," Turgeon said. "He is going to go out and get the best players that he can. Ultimately they come because of the head coach and the system but he gets involved in them. Dalonte has been great. He is a great person and he loves being back home and at Maryland."