North Central Missouri College has announced its new head baseball coach as Donnie Hillerman of Moberly.
Hillerman has been the head coach for Florissant Valley Community College in St. Louis for the past nine years. Last season under Hillerman, Florissant Valley ran a record of 21-26.
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“I felt we got as far as we were going to get on our limited scholarships (at Florissant Valley),” Hillerman said. “We only had five scholarships there.”
Hillerman has also coached at Longview Community College and for the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League, a semi-pro baseball league.
Hillerman graduated from Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, where he played baseball as a pitcher, shortstop and catcher. Hillerman also played baseball at East Central Community College in Union.
Hillerman is looking forward to the challenge of turning around a NCMC team that went 7-21 last season.
“It starts with recruiting,” Hillerman said. “To recruit well you need to have scholarships and facilities. In addition, whatever talent we have in we need to maximize that.”
Hillerman is excited to be working in the small town atmosphere of Trenton.
“I’m from Moberly, so I’m a small town guy,” Hillerman said. “I’m excited to be working in this community and, hopefully, they will get behind this team and support us.”
Hillerman’s philosophy for NCMC will start with pitching and work its way from there.
“Pitching is obviously the key. Nobody wins without pitching,” Hillerman said. “As long as you keep the opponent from scoring and keep their runs down you have a chance to win the game.”
Hillerman is still looking for an assistant coach, but he has alraedy set some goals for NCMC, including gaining more scholarships, improving facilities and turning the Pirates into a winning program
“It’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” Hillerman said. “With a little time and effort, however, there is no reason we can’t turn NCMC into a winning program.”
In addition to his baseball duties, Hillerman will serve as the residence life coordinator and be in charge of the residence halls at the college.