A former national-level competitor himself, Jordan Hintz is less than five years removed from his own career as a college trap shooter.
But in just a short time since taking over at his alma mater, the Hillsdale College graduate has maintained the Charger Shotgun Sports program's standard of excellence.
Hintz joined the Hillsdale College shotgun team in 2013 after a star-studded prep career at Burlington High School in his hometown of Burlington, Wisconsin. At Burlington, he helped lead the program to six Scholastic Clay Target national titles in various disciplines, and three team High Overall National Championships. Outside of the high school season, he competed at the highest junior levels the sport had to offer, earning a spot on three USA Shooting Junior Olympic Teams.
During his career at Hillsdale, Hintz lived up to that resume, earning ACUI/NRA All-American honors in three of his four seasons, winning multiple titles in various disciplines, and playing a role in five ACUI Division 3 High Overall Team National Championships.
Even prior to coming to Hillsdale, Hintz had already started coaching, assisting youth programs in Burlington, and he also spent six years on the Burlington High School coaching staff during and after his time at Hillsdale College.
After graduating from Hillsdale in 2018, Hintz stayed on as an assistant coach for the Chargers in the 2018-19 season, and in the fall of 2019 he took over as the program's head coach in a permanent capacity.
As a coach at Hillsdale, Hintz has been able to draw on his own extensive background in the sport, as well as lessons he's learned working with Olympic coaches and athletes and with sports psychologists who focus on clay target athletes.
Although his first season as head coach was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, Hillsdale had already made an impressive showing in the fall, sweeping the Division III event titles in Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays at the 2019 Scholastic Clay Target Program Collegiate National Championships to roll to the High Overall title by a commanding margin, posting the fifth-highest score in the nation regardless of division in the process.
We sat down with Jordan to talk about his decision to come to Hillsdale as a student-athlete, and his decision to return as a coach, for the latest in our At Home At Hillsdale series. Here's our complete interview:
Q. What is your athletic background? Did you play other sports growing up, or were you focused on the sport you're coaching from the start? What made you choose to focus on the sport you're coaching now?
A. Bowling was the only other sport I was heavily involved in when I was younger. I became a pretty good bowler by the time I graduated high school (including rolling a 300 game) and enjoyed competing in it immensely.
I began shooting when I was 13 and it quickly became my true passion. The shotgun sports were something that came naturally to me. I advanced quickly and my desire to compete never let up. I had an incredible group of coaches on my high school team and started coaching myself before I graduated high school. I enjoyed helping younger athletes who were trying to reach the success that I had attained.
Q. Why Hillsdale, as both a player and a coach? What stood out to you about the school and the athletic program as a recruit, and what brought you back to the school to coach?
A. Compared to other colleges with serious shotgun programs, Hillsdale's academic rigor is second to none. Ultimately, that was what made me decide to come here. An athletic scholarship, program funding, and the beautiful facilities only made the deal better. I loved the small school and class sizes.
After I graduated in 2018, I moved into an assistant coach role and was awarded the head coach position the year after. If I was going to coach, it had to be at Hillsdale. I believe in what Hillsdale teaches and already understood to a great degree how our program operated. I would have likely gone a different direction even if I had gotten an offer from another school.
Q. What do you like best about being a coach? What about your job do you find most rewarding or uplifting?
A. Just being around the sport that I love is enough, but helping an athlete learn how to do something new and seeing them succeed makes me happier than anything. Getting everything to come together at a shoot and putting up a big number as a squad is amazing.
Q. Do you have any inspirations you draw on for your coaching style, whether it's your personal experience as an athlete, or past coaches you've had? How has your previous experience as a player and coach helped make you the coach you are today
A. I've had a lot of different coaches with a variety of skill levels and styles. I try to take the best from all of them and find what is most effective for each athlete individually. I don't try to force my shooters to do things the way that I would, but being able to explain my thought process often helps when their approach is not working. My coaching style has changed a lot since I began at Hillsdale and will continue to develop over time.
Q. What is your favorite memory as a coach (whether it's a single moment, some team accomplishment, or just an everyday thing in practice)?
A. We have been fortunate in the last two years to take a few incredible individuals with limited clay target shooting experience and develop them into great athletes. At 2019 SCTP Collegiate Nationals, a team member that had shot only a little American Skeet shot a perfect 100-straight. The anticipation while watching him was unreal, and not many moments compare to that one.