NATCHITOCHES – Funeral arrangements are set for legendary Northwestern State coach and administrator Tynes Hildebrand, who passed away last weekend at the age of 93.
Visitation with the family will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church of Natchitoches. The funeral service will follow at 3:30 p.m.
Hildebrand, a native of Florien in Sabine Parish, died last Sunday in the Dallas area after a brief illness. He and wife Julia, also a Sabine Parish native, lived in Natchitoches until moving to Shreveport in 2016, and they relocated to Texas a couple of years ago to be close to family members. She is among his survivors.
A member of the N-Club Hall of Fame, the Southland Conference Hall of Honor, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwestern State’s Long Purple Line, Hildebrand was a two-sport letterman (basketball, track and field) as an undergraduate and a two-time graduate of Northwestern.
He spent 16 seasons as Northwestern’s basketball coach, winning 191 games – the third-highest total in school history – while guiding NSU into its Division I era. He transitioned into administration, serving 13 years as the school’s director of athletics.
He instituted a forward-thinking internship program that strengthened the department and was a pivotal part of the Demons landing in the Southland Conference in 1987.
In addition to serving on the then-Division I-AA football selection panel and additional NCAA committees, Hildebrand served as a mentor for current Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and former NSU athletic director Greg Burke. As the top administrator in NSU’s athletic department, Hildebrand was instrumental in guiding Northwestern State into the Southland Conference in 1987.
Following his time as AD at Northwestern, Hildebrand remained tied to basketball as a respected NCAA Division I official evaluator for 17 years, beginning in 1997. In 2006, he was chosen as one of the NCAA’s inaugural four regional officiating supervisors, helping select officials for the NCAA Tournament through to the national championship game. He retired in 2014.
Hildebrand is survived by his wife, his sons, Tynes Jr. and wife Trish, and Bruce and wife, Nancy and grandchildren, John and his wife, Alice, Jackson and his wife, Curri, Joseph and his wife, Emily, Brent and his wife, Allison, and Cara Grace Gray and her husband Andrew, as well as his great grandchildren, Hannah, Hayden, Hudson, Ellie, Hazel, Charlotte, Hattie, Adelyn and Sam.