Tyler Hildebrand New Assistant Coach

[huskersrule95]

LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska volleyball head coach John Cook announced on Tuesday that Tyler Hildebrand has been named the new assistant coach for the Huskers. Hildebrand replaces Chris Tamas, who accepted the head coach position at Illinois in February.

 

Hildebrand, who celebrates his 33rd birthday today, is in his second year as associate head coach and fifth year overall on the staff for the Long Beach State mens volleyball program. A former All-American at Long Beach State, Hildebrand was the top assistant there from 2013-15 after a decorated playing career on the U.S. Mens National Team. He will join the Husker program next week and could still potentially serve as a volunteer coach with the 49ers for an NCAA Tournament run in May. The 49ers are currently 15-2 and ranked No. 2 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

 

Hildebrand will have a hand in coaching all positions at Nebraska, as well as recruiting. He is a former setter who has run both the offense and the blocking defense at Long Beach State.

 

I want him to be involved in every part of our program, Cook said. Tyler is an outstanding coach, and hes recruited a lot of the players at Long Beach State who have them in the hunt for a national title this year. Hes an extremely hard worker, evidenced by all the different teams hes coached. I know that he has the confidence to come in here and not miss a beat with what weve been doing. He will instill his confidence in our players and keep going on what weve been building. My goal is always to find somebody that can make me a better coach, and Tyler is going to make me a better coach.

 

Since concluding his collegiate playing career at Long Beach State in 2006, Hildebrand has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments both as a player and coach. Professionally, he played on the U.S. Mens National Team from 2006-12 and was a four-time Pan American Cup champion and a World University Games bronze medalist. He later served as the setting consultant for the U.S. Mens National Team in 2015 as they won the FIVB World Cup and earned the bronze medal in the World League. Last summer, Hildebrand coached the U.S. beach volleyball duo of Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Hildebrand also played professionally on the beach as part of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) from 2006-07.

 

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211508722

[knapplc]

The coaching churn at Nebraska is amazing. We lose Chris (& Jen) Tamas, we pick up Tyler Hildebrand (& Kristin Richards-Hildebrand). That's like losing Rex Burkhead but you've got Ameer Abdullah in the locker room.

 

 

 

 

 

Fun side note - Kristin Richards was on the US National Team with former volunteer coach (& spouse of assistant coach Chris) Jen Tamas.

 

In fact, Kristin was one of Jen's bridesmaids when she got married.

 

Small world.

[Mavric]

Moiraine approves of the hire

 

[knapplc]

It seems as if Mr. Hildebrand doesn't have a twitter handle. Weird.

[Mavric]

Hildebrand was torn because coming to Nebraska meant he would be leaving Long Beach State during the middle of the season. Long Beach State could have a chance to win a national title next month. He also had an offer to be an assistant with the U.S. men’s national team for this Olympic cycle, and he would have been able to do both jobs.

 

But Hildebrand and his wife, Kristin, decided this was the time to make a move. Kristin, who was an All-American outside hitter at Stanford and played on the U.S national team with NU assistant coach Kayla Banwarth, will have a volunteer player development role on the Huskers’ staff.

 

“I think he’s a really talented coach,” said Cook of Hildebrand. “He’s got a great husband-wife team. Kristin brings a huge piece to this, and I learned that with (previous NU assistants Chris and Jen Tamas). They’re great role models for our players.

 

“I know he’s a super-loyal guy. He’s given up more than any other coach I’ve hired. He gave up a shot to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, and he almost had to give up a shot to win a national championship.”

 

LJS

[Mavric]

[Mavric]

 

[knapplc]

I would hope he'd at least stay a couple of years.  But I think it's going to be important in the next few years for assistants (like Busboom-Kelly, Tamas, Hildebrand, Skinner, Johnson, etc) to have head coaching experience at other schools, because when the time finally comes for Cook to retire (years and years from now, hopefully), his successor will have to have shown they can thrive at this level.