Billy Haze has been hired by the Pacific West Conference and the California Collegiate Athletic Association as their new Baseball Supervisor of Umpires, replacing Tom Hiler who served in that position for over a decade.

Haze will coordinate umpires to PacWest and CCAA baseball contests, while also serving as the evaluator and supervisor to those officials. Haze also currently serves in the same role for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) and the California Pacific Conference (CalPac).

"We are so fortunate to have someone of Billy Haze's experience and integrity to take over the position created by Tom Hiler,” said retiring PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue. “Billy and Tom have worked together for years, so this transition will be tremendous for our conference schools and for all our umpires."

Haze, who just returned from the NCAA Baseball College World Series, also serves as the NCAA Director of Umpire Training. He is based in Rancho Murieta.

“I love officiating and baseball umpires, and it's my desire to help educate and mentor these guys at this level," Haze said. ”The evaluation process of what I do helps in their development to make them better umpires and reach their goals of advancing in the profession."

In his role with the NCAA, Haze creates instructional videos that highlight the positives and negatives that are trending in college umpiring. That same work will now benefit umpires at the Division II level when working with the PacWest and the CCAA.

"I want to support these guys that are trying to be the best umpires that they can be while also juggling their lives and work schedules," Haze added. "When we want to make better umpires, and we also want to better the retention levels. At our level and especially at the high school and youth levels, it has been difficult to find, build and keep umpires."

Haze will begin his duties with the CCAA and PacWest immediately.

"We're excited to have Billy Haze assume the duties of CCAA Coordinator of Baseball Umpires," said CCAA Commissioner Mitch Cox. "Billy has tremendous experience and a deep knowledge of the rules of the game. His enthusiasm for what he does is contagious. I would like to personally thank Tom Hiler for his many years of service to the CCAA. Tom and I go back a long way and when I became commissioner, he was always there to help me with questions that I had and to provide sound advice.".