ASHEVILLE- Expectations mean everything to Billy Hillier.Therefore, his primary goal is to raise them as Asheville High's baseball coach. The school announced Thursday that Hillier will replace David Burdette, who resigned after o­ne season and a 6-17 record.

"There aren't going to be any moral victories for us. You either win or lose in baseball," Hillier said. "We're going to increase the expectation levels here and shoot for being as successful as a program like Roberson."

Hillier is prepared to become the third Cougars coach in three years after a playing career that included three seasons at UNC Asheville followed by eight years of ACC coaching experience as an assistant at Duke and Wake Forest.

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"Obviously, Bill brings a lot of expertise to the job," Asheville athletic director Rex Wells said. "He's been at the college level, but he's also spent a lot of time in camps with young people. He's a great teacher and knows so much that he can pass o­n to our players."

Hillier began his high school coaching career this spring with Asheville's junior varsity program, leading the Cougars to an 11-11 record.

"This year was the first time an Asheville (junior varsity) team didn't have a losing record in a long time," Hillier said. "I learned as much from my team this year as they learned from me. Coaching is coaching. It's just been great for me to not be o­n the road recruiting and have that time to spend at home."

Hillier played his freshman year at N.C. State in 1994 before transferring to UNCA, where his father, Bill Sr., was head coach. He earned All-Big South Conference honors as a junior and senior and, following graduation, served two years as a voluntary assistant coach at Wake Forest.

Hillier then reunited with his father for six years at Duke, where Bill Hillier Sr. resigned last season after compiling a 121-214 record.

Four former players at Duke made allegations in April 2005 that Hillier Sr. encouraged the use of steroids, but university officials did not find any evidence of drug use in tests performed immediately after the charges were made.

"That was really tough, and I handled it a lot worse than he did," Billy Hillier said. "But the bottom line is we just didn't win enough at Duke. What bothers me is he's retired now and wants nothing to do with baseball.

"But he'll still call me at 6:30 a.m. and ask me why I'm not in the office (at Asheville). If I don't answer the phone, he'll tell me that someone is outworking me somewhere. He still pushes me to do things the right way."