Rickey Hill will be leading Loyola’s Competitive Dance and Cheerleading program in its first year of existence. Hill has over 30 years of experience within the sport according to LoyolaWolfPack.com.

Hill was the Spirit Coordinator at Virginia Tech from 2004 to 2012 before being hired to take control of the program here at Loyola on July 8.

“I coached at Virginia Tech until December 2012 and decided to focus more on my own camps and choreography,” said Hill.

During his time at Virginia Tech, Hill constructed a program in six years that featured 63 cheerleaders and 30 dancers. Additionally, Hill led Virginia Tech’s cheerleading and dance teams to multiple National Cheer Association/National Dance Association finals in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Prior to his time at Virginia Tech, Hill coached at four other universities including Southern Methodist University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia and Winthrop University. Hill led each one of these programs to the College Cheerleading and Dance National Championships.

However, the highlight of Hill’s career was a Division I National Cheer Association championship in 1996 that he won while at James Madison University.

Loyola’s Director of Athletics, Brett Simpson, took strong notice of Hill’s coaching career and is excited to welcome him to Loyola.

“We’re excited to have Rickey Hill lead our competitive cheer and dance teams in our inaugural season. He has a proven track record of building programs that succeed in competition and in the classroom as well as developing student athletes for life after college. We look forward to him growing our program into one of the best in the NAIA,” said Simpson.

As Hill takes over Loyola’s Cheerleading and Dance program in its inaugural year, he understands that it’s going to take time to turn this program into a national powerhouse.

“We are going to start from the ground because I believe that you have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. It’s about assessing the talent and seeing what they have and then moving forward,” said Hill.

Hill is being asked to construct a brand new program from the ground up, but maintains that while it’s going to be a difficult process, he is definitely up for the challenge.

“I just want my dancers to be committed, to work hard, and to learn more about life than cheerleading. That’s my goal. It’s the first year for the program so it’s going to be challenging but fun because it’s going to be a program that I can put my own stamp on. I am really excited.”