In coaching circles across the Pine Belt and the surrounding area, the Bilderback name carries a lot of weight. Missy Bilderback comes from a family of coaches and is a decades-long successful women’s basketball coach, and Chip Bilderback is a state championship-winning coach at the high school football ranks. After one year of both being away, the pair of coaches have returned home.
Missy became the head women’s basketball coach at Louisiana-Monroe ahead of the 2023-24 season, meaning husband and wife were a state apart from each other with their son, Drew, going with Missy to Monroe, La. It was a tough time for the Bilderbacks during that season, and it was something the family knew they didn’t want to repeat again.
“That was a really difficult year, but something we felt like where we didn’t want Chip to not have the opportunity to coach that team. We knew they were going to be really good, and we thought, maybe, it would be something we could do for a couple of years. But after that first year, we realized this was too tough on our family, particularly Drew,” Missy explained. “Drew wanted to play for his dad, and he wants to have his dad around every day. So just me and Chip probably could have managed it a bit, but for Drew being a high school teenager, it’s just not what we wanted for our family dynamic.”
Chip left Columbia following the 2023 season to be closer to his family, serving as head coach at St. Frederick in 2024. The Warriors finished the season 8-3 with a Region 2-1A title — the school’s first district championship since 1996. Missy went 32-33 in two seasons at ULM – a historically difficult place to win – including a Women’s NIT Great 8 appearance in Year 1.
But then, a gold light came shining from Missy’s hometown. Southern Miss legend Joye Lee-McNelis retired from her post as the longtime head women’s basketball coach, leaving an opening in the program. Naturally, Missy threw her name in the hat, and once she gained some momentum towards being offered the job, a spot for Chip became available in Columbia.
Lance Pogue replaced Chip ahead of the 2024 season, going 8-4 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs. He informed Columbia administration of his intention to accept the head coaching position at Brandon, citing a desire to be closer to his home. Shortly thereafter, Columbia Superintendent Jason Harris made his first call.
“With Missy and what she has going on (at Southern Miss), it was a God thing,” Chip said. “It was a God thing that aligned for me to leave here, but I think God, for whatever reason, opened the doors up for us to come back. For me to be back in a job and a position that I love, in a community that I love, in a school that I love, as a coach you don’t get that very often.”
“When we saw that this job was coming open and this opportunity could potentially present itself,” Missy said, “the first question was, ‘Man, Chip just left Columbia and gave up that job. Where would Chip be? What would he be able to do over here?’ When Columbia opened back, that was definitely, for us, the sign that this was a no-brainer from a standpoint that it was a great move for me, professionally, and for Chip.”
The third piece of the puzzle, and the most important factor to Missy and Chip, was their son. Drew had just moved to Monroe two years before, and they didn’t want to move him to a different school ahead of his senior year. But when the opportunity came for him to go back to the school he grew up at, it was a no-brainer.
“He’s been a complete team player in all of our coaching careers and moves, and he’s been so supportive of Chip and I. He really loves what we do,” Missy said. “The opportunity for him to come back to a place where he grew up on the sidelines as a water boy and playing football in junior high and ninth grade was certainly a no-brainer, too.”
“He could finish here in a place he fell in love from being a water boy on the sidelines to playing as a ninth-grader to now being excited about getting to run out on Walter Payton Field,” Chip explained.
Drew blossomed at St. Frederick into an all-conference player, and Chip said Drew is the epitome of a “coach’s kid.”
When Chip made his return to the Columbia High athletics building to greet his team, it was an emotional scene to remember. As soon as he walked into the team meeting room, all the players in the room jumped out of their seats and mobbed their old coach, ecstatic to see him back in the building.
“We’re super excited!” rising junior Jadari Jefferson said. “I’m not gonna lie, I did shed some tears. We needed that. The chemistry we had with him, that bond we had with him, is back. We’re just about to go super hard, and we’re coming back for another state title.”
When he left Columbia 10 months ago, Chip said the door had been closed on returning to Columbia and he never expected to be the Wildcat head coach again. He said he felt good when he left that he had given it his all and accomplished what he set out to do. While the Bilderbacks always wanted to stay in the Pine Belt, they didn’t think it was going to happen until they retired.
“I do believe in coincidences, but this was not a coincidence. This was a God thing,” he said. “To come back to a place that we love, it was easy.”
While the ultimate goal is to return the winning standards Bilderback established during his first tenure, he admitted it’s going to be a challenge and the process doesn’t happen overnight. He said the first order of business is getting the players to have the right type of attention to detail, attitude, mentality and work ethic more so than trying to get ready to win the first game on the schedule.
“If our kids do what we’re supposed to do, the winning is going to take care of itself,” he said. "We just have to get back to focusing on us. I’m really excited to be back in this community and get to see all my old players and get to see their parents.”
While at Columbia, Bilderback amassed a 69-12 record in six seasons, winning a state championship in 2021 and making a state championship appearance in 2023. The Wildcats won district titles in 2019, 2021 and 2023 under Bilderback with at least one playoff win in each of his six years as head coach.
“It’s a perfect situation for the three of us,” Missy said. “We’re just really thankful and grateful for the Southern Miss administration and Dr. Jason Harris at Columbia for making this happen.”
