Peoria High alum takes over girls basketball program

Shamar Hill is the new Peoria High girls basketball head coach.

The 2012 Peoria High grad was hired July 2 to replace Meechie Edwards, who stepped down in May after 19 seasons and 310 wins.

During the 2025-26 season, Hill led Richwoods to a Class 4A Sweet Sixteen berth, an undefeated Big 12 Conference campaign and a 24-5 overall mark.

In March, Hill resigned from the Knights post following a three-year tenure that included 59 victories and a regional title last season, citing family reasons.

But the chance to coach at his alma mater called him back to the sidelines.

"This is one of my dream jobs," Hill told the Journal Star on Monday, July 6, "because I wanted to be at Peoria High. ... I just couldn't pass up this opportunity."

Hill says after Edwards had resigned, he waited a few weeks before applying. He then interviewed and accepted the position, meeting the team at the last Illinois Central College summer league game.

His varsity coaching career began at Central on Edwards' staff almost a decade ago.

"I'm looking forward to brining toughness, hard work, competitiveness and fundamentals to the program," Hill said. "I'm real big defensively, so that's going to lead to everything else."

However, Hill said facing Richwoods from the opposite bench on Jan. 15, 2027, will be an adjustment.

"It will be definitely weird because of my time I had there," he said. "... Great players over there that I had great relationships with, so it will definitely be kind of weird."

Peoria High went 2-22 overall and 2-8 in Big 12 Conference play in 2025-26. Central's two victories came against Big 12 members Danville and Urbana. A pair of underclassman in freshman Saniyah Jones (second team) and sophomore Ciara Stokes (honorable mention) earned spots on the all-Big 12 Conference team.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria High alum takes over girls basketball program