Hinton looks to end tenure with MHSAA in strong way
Don Hinton’s last responsibility as executive director of Mississippi High School Activities Association may come at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium in December.
Hinton notified the executive committee on Tuesday that he intends to retire on December 31.
If the MHSAA football season is played on schedule and the state championships take place, it would happen in December and Starkville would be the site of Hinton’s final hurrah.
The move of the state football championships to the campuses of MSU, Ole Miss and Southern Miss has been a highlight of Hinton’s 10-year tenure as MHSAA executive director.
“It’s one of the best things we’ve ever done,” Hinton said.
The success of the football championships at college campuses led to the same move in other sports as the fast pitch championships have been at MSU and Southern Miss the last three years, the volleyball championships have alternated between MSU and Ole Miss, and this past season the basketball championships were at Ole Miss.
Hinton was happy to see how the championships have been received in the college venues.
“The coaches in the other sports wanted to experience that same type of atmosphere in championship facilities,” Hinton said. “That’s been a huge plus for us, created tons of enthusiasm and excitement, enhanced our state championships and brought them to another level.”
It’s Hinton’s hope that fall sports will happen in some form in 2020.
With the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still spreading at a rapid pace in the state and across the country, some adjustments in the schedule could be made.
The executive committee met this week and plan to meet again in two weeks. Hinton said the evaluation of the situation in the days following the Fourth of July holiday will be key.
“It changes so much,” Hinton said. “We kind of opened up and felt we had better chances of starting on time, then we had this trend or spike (in the virus). We are in the middle of summer, being the first of July, so we still have some time before we actually start, but more than likely, we might be delaying the start of the season.”
Hinton’s main concern will be to make these last few months as MHSAA executive director as productive as possible.
After joining the MHSAA staff on January 1, 2011, Hinton was promoted to executive director on July 1, 2011 following the retirement of Ennis Proctor.
”Dr. Proctor was here for about a 20-year period and that was 10 years ago,” Hinton said. “It’s hard to believe he’s been gone that long. He was a fixture here for a long time.
“When I first started, my goal was to hit at least the 10-year mark. My mother is still on the (Mississippi Gulf) Coast at age 87 and I want to be able to spend more time with her. My in-laws have been in Bay Springs, which is where we’re from, and we have two grand babies and we want to see them. The main point was shooting for 10 years and December will be exactly 10 years. Those was some of the factors. I’ve kind of pointed toward this point for a while.”
The executive committee and President Kalvin Robinson will begin the discussion about a successor to Hinton in the next two weeks.
“It’s time for new leadership to come in,” Hinton said. “They will get the right person and they’ll be starting that process pretty soon.”