Meticulous Hildebrand leaves gilded legacy at NSU, national levels

NATCHITOCHES, La. (NSU) – Tynes Hildebrand had an eye for talent – whether it was for college athletes or for college athletic administrators.

The longtime cornerstone of the Northwestern State athletic department passed away Sunday at the age of 93, leaving a legacy of victories on the court and a professional network of administrators that tops out at the highest level of Division I competition.

RELATED: NSU mourns loss of legendary coach, administrator Tynes Hildebrand

Hildebrand coached Northwestern State’s men’s basketball team to 191 victories in 16 seasons, and his win total remains third in school history behind H. Lee Prather (473) and Mike McConathy (330). His work as Northwestern State’s director of athletics for 13 years, however, stands of equal or greater importance.

“It is a blessing to be included on a list of individuals whose careers were significantly influenced, and in some cases ‘jump-started,’ by Coach Hildebrand,” said former Demon Director of Athletics Greg Burke, who was initially hired as an intern by Hildebrand before returning as an assistant athletic director and eventually Hildebrand’s successor in 1996.

“He was ahead of his time by initiating an internship program for sports administration graduate students in the early 1980s. He mentored and motivated the interns but most importantly, he treated them like family, especially since most had relocated to Natchitoches from other parts of the country. When I arrived at NSU as an intern in 1985, the only employees were an athletic director, a business/ticket manager and a sports information director. Yet, Coach Hildebrand’s ambitious and determined leadership resulted in the athletic program accomplishing more than one would expect from a department with just three full-time employees and a couple of ‘wet behind the ears’ interns.

“Coach Hildebrand immeasurably impacted my career both before and after succeeding him as NSU’s Athletic Director. It was an honor to follow in his footsteps and I valued his continued input and support. Most meaningful, though, was our enduring friendship.”

Burke recently reached out to Hildebrand, who lettered in both basketball and track and field in his undergraduate time at Northwestern State, to congratulate him for one of the final honors of Hildebrand’s decorated career – the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches’ Don Landry Award, which recognizes distinguished service and significant contributions to the LABC.

That award followed induction into the N-Club Hall of Fame in 1985, the Southland Conference Hall of Honor in 1999, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as the 2014 Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award winner and Northwestern State’s Long Purple Line in 2022.

Though Hildebrand was unable to attend the May 4 banquet to accept his award in person, one of his longtime players was honored to step in.

David Clark, like Hildebrand, a member of Northwestern State’s N-Club Hall of Fame, stepped in for the man who coached him for the entirety of his high school career at Natchitoches High School and then for the final two years of his standout career at Northwestern State.

“He was a great man, a great coach,” Clark said. “He studied the game, knew the game and coached every bit of the game. Everything had a play for it. His attention to detail was tremendous. He covered it all. Everything the other team put in against us, we had prepared for it. He covered everything.”

Clark later followed Hildebrand’s path, becoming a coach at Campti High School where he won 267 games in 13 seasons. A three-time all-conference player and honorable mention All-American, Clark credited Hildebrand with reinforcing his career path.

“I knew I wanted to be a coach,” Clark said. “He influenced me with the way he coached every part of the game. When I started coaching, I knew the game because of him.”

Detailed preparation defined Hildebrand’s tenure on the sidelines and in the top spot in NSU’s athletic department. It did the same when it came to his home.

“He was meticulous about his yard,” said Pat Nolen Pierson, a former Lady Demon basketball standout and later head coach. “He didn’t have a lot of outside hobbies, but his yard was manicured to perfection. We teased him that not one blade of grass was out of place and not one was longer than the other.”

While Pierson and the rest of the NSU administration could jest with Hildebrand about his lawncare skills, it came from a place of care for a man whose stern demeanor belied his ability to put people at ease.

Following a standout playing career, Pierson returned to her alma mater as the head women’s basketball coach for the 1978-79 season. As a young head coach, she benefited from Hildebrand’s ability and willingness to mentor younger coaches and, eventually, burgeoning administrators.

“He was a wonderful mentor,” she said. “He always was very willing to share. If he had some different kind of offense or defense, he was happy to go over it with me. He never made me feel like he didn’t have time to answer my questions. Early in my career, I didn’t have an assistant coach and I had a conflict with practice. He came and practiced my team for me. He was that giving to let go of his busy schedule. The girls laughed because he wouldn’t give them as many water breaks, but I always appreciated him doing that.”

Pierson also coached under Hildebrand’s watch when the latter became the school’s athletic director in 1983.

“It didn’t surprise me at all,” she said of Hildebrand’s move to athletic administration. “Even as a coach, he paid a lot of attention to detail. Administrators have to do that – dot the Is and cross the Ts. It was an easy transition based on his work ethic and personality.”

Those two traits – and a well-placed phone call from his wife, Julia – helped serve Hildebrand in his post-NSU career.

Following his retirement from NSU in 1996, Hildebrand began the third act of his collegiate athletics career, working with the Southland Conference as a men’s basketball officials observer – a position that came when his wife called then-Southland Commissioner Greg Sankey, one of the “graduates” of Hildebrand’s internship program at Northwestern State.

“Julia was the one who called me,” said Sankey, now the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and one of the top power brokers in college athletics. “She told me, ‘You’ve got to find something for him to do.’ I didn’t have a lot of resources then, but we brought him on to help support our basketball officiating program. He got after it and eventually established himself nationally. It probably didn’t generate as much notoriety locally, but his work ethic and his attention to detail provided a valuable resource for officiating coordinators.”

Hildebrand’s quick climb up the officiating rung did not come as a surprise to anyone.

Although his on-court relationships with referees may have seemed incongruous to Hildebrand becoming an officiating observer, those qualities served him well in his new role – one that saw him become one of the NCAA’s inaugural four regional officiating supervisors.

“Our deepest condolences are with his family,” NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said. “Coach Hildebrand was beloved by all of those who worked with him at the NCAA. He brought such credibility to our officials’ program by virtue of his hard work and attention to detail. Whenever anyone questioned his credentials having come from a coaching background, he dug in and earned their trust with his work ethic and attention to detail. I think the coaches knew he had been in their shoes and had their best interests in mind while helping evaluate our officials.”

Much like the way Hildebrand climbed the ladder of his newfound profession, Sankey did so, working his way from Hildebrand’s internship program to the summit of the SEC. His relationship with Hildebrand opened the door for not only Sankey but others to get their start in college athletics.

“When he started the program, there weren’t many people on the administrative side,” Sankey said. “I commend him for the creativity to go outside the boundaries of the state to find talented people and provide an opportunity. It was a two-way street – there was an opportunity provided and there was work to be done. When I went down to Natchitoches in late spring of 89 for a visit, the recitation of where people had come from surprised me. I was hearing Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania to Natchitoches, and he’d been able to use it as a launching pad to start a career.”

Sankey and Burke both extolled the benefits of Hildebrand’s internship program that set them up for industry success once their time in the program was complete.

While the tangible benefits of the internship program continue to show themselves, it was something Hildebrand did repeatedly that stuck with both Sankey and Burke and spoke to the essence of who Hildebrand was as a leader.

“You’d see him driving his gray Nissan pickup truck – often the wrong way down the one-way street in front of the fieldhouse – and you’d see the truck stop,” Sankey said. “He’d jump out, pick up a piece of paper or a piece of trash and throw it away. It showed even for him, there wasn’t anything too small to pay attention to.”

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