Hayden Hidlay Hired as an Assistant Coach by Stanford

One of the most sought-after young coaching prospects is on the move and he’s headed out west. Today, Stanford announced that Hayden Hidlay would be joining Chris Ayres’ staff for the 2024-25 season. 

Hidlay finished a decorated career at NC State in 2022 and stayed in Raleigh as the team’s “Student-Athlete Development Coordinator.” In 2023-24, Hidlay took his first official coaching position with North Dakota State. He was a part of Obe Blanc’s first staff as head coach in Fargo. The pair had previously crossed paths while Blanc was an assistant coach at NC State. 

Though North Dakota State was hit hard by transfers during the coaching transition, the Bison managed to finish 11th in the competitive Big 12. Hidlay likely worked closely with Gaven Sax, who ended up making the Big 12 finals at 174 lbs and advanced to the NCAA Round of 12 as the #14 seed. 

In five years of competition at NC State, Hidlay made the NCAA podium four times (2,4,5,3) and earned a top-two seed on three occasions. He also captured four ACC titles and was an integral part of a 2018 squad that tied for fourth place at NCAA’s and brought home an NCAA team trophy. 

Stanford has a very promising team in place for year two under Chris Ayres. They are set to return all five NCAA qualifiers from a group that amassed 34 points and took 16th place at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Both of the team’s returning All-Americans (Daniel Cardenas and Hunter Garvin) have multiple years of eligibility remaining. If that isn’t enough, the Cardinal recruiting Class of 2024 just finished second in InterMat’s recruiting class rankings. After the release of MatScouts final 2024 Big Board, Stanford has inked seven of the top 105 seniors and five of them fall within the top 50. 

With a handful of quality coaching openings nationwide, Hidlay’s name generated plenty of buzz in coaching circles.