He is hailed as one of the best basketball coaches in the state of Illinois. He is a successful businessman and a huge philanthropist for Marist. His last name is plastered along one of Marist’s gym walls. Brian Hynes is a true example of Marist spirit.
Despite his dedication to the program, the absolute love for the sport of basketball, and his care for Marist High School, his true love is for his dogs.
“My wife and I have to remind each other when we call each other, because we never ask about the kids. We always ask how the dogs are doing,” said Hynes. “And I don’t like people that don’t like dogs. That says something about you.”
Hynes has had a total of six dogs, and currently has three: Lucy, Stanley, and Martha. Stanley is the Hynes family favorite.
“He goes to Florida every year. Mrs. Hynes leaves the day after the Rice game, goes to Florida for four months, and takes Stanley with her.”
Hynes graduated from Marist in the class of 1986.
“I felt very good at Marist,” said Hynes. “I mean, the friendships, the culture, I just met kids that were on the same path as me. Some of my best friends today are still from high school. I felt like I could be myself there.”
It’s almost impossible to have been on campus at Marist and not walk by, or go inside, the Hynes gymnasium. Despite popular belief, the gym is not named after him, but rather his late father who had passed from a rare bone disease.
“My father was diagnosed in ’07, and my younger brother came up with the idea of doing something in his honor. So the money was donated for the gym in honor of my dad,” said Hynes. “Cause my parents were so into education, it was kind of a way to pay it back.”
Though he was named ESCC Coach of the Year, Hynes didn’t start out as a basketball mastermind. In 2007, Hynes started as the Freshman B team coach, under the tenured leadership of Gene Nolan.
“I thought I knew a lot because I just watched a ton of basketball, like any other spectator,” said Hynes. “And then because of the type of coach Coach Nolan is, I realized I didn’t know that much.”
Marist has not been the only place where Hynes has taken his coaching skills. From 2018 to 2021, Hynes worked with Nolan at Naperville North. However, it was short-lived.
“I hated it. It just wasn’t Marist,” said Hynes. “And it took me three days to call him after the first week and say, ‘Gene, I don’t want to do this’, and by the time I had realized that, they had hired somebody at Marist. The timing wasn’t the worst. It all worked out great. I also needed a break.” He had been coaching for 11 straight years at that point.
“I was golfing in Florida on April 5th, which was my dad’s birthday who had passed, and my phone was blowing up, and a bunch of people had called me and he said that the Marist coach resigned,” said Hynes.
He was now faced with an opportunity he had ignored before.
“I met with my wife and made the decision that I was going to apply for the job. And I said, ‘I bet you I get hired on April 29th.’ That was the 10 year anniversary of Paul Simmons passing away, and I got hired on April 29th,” he said.
Simmons was a player at Marist in the class of 2011 that unfortunately passed away during a senior lock-in, and a great friend of Hynes. The basketball court was named after him in his honor, with his number 11 jersey being retired.
With the 2025-26 season beginning, the pressure of the team being listed in pre-season top 10, and him being in conversation for the best coach in state, Hynes is excited.
“I have to keep us the right size and hungry,” said Hynes. “For the last couple of years, it’s been that we were the hunter, now we’re the hunted, but it’s part of sports.”
Several other coaches praise Hynes and agree with the rankings.
“Coach Hynes is without a doubt one of the top coaches in the state,” said Jeremy Nash, Marist Hall of Fame basketball player and JV Boys Basketball head coach. “When he took over the program after a couple of down seasons, he immediately made the necessary adjustments and brought the program back to prominence.”
Before every team outing, practice, and game, Hynes reminds his players of his motto.
“It’s not what you do. It’s how you do it,” he says.
This simple phrase has brought him success throughout his life, and he urges others to live by it as well.
