A native of Burlington, North Carolina, Hinson attended Mount Pleasant High School where he played football and was a three-time all-conference wrestler. After graduating in 1984, Hinson attended UNC-Charlotte, graduating with a Chemistry degree in 1990. Returning to Mount Pleasant, Hinson embarked on a 30-year career in teaching that included dropout prevention, teaching credit recovery, assistant athletic director (10 years), coaching football (20 seasons), coaching wrestling (31 seasons), and coaching track (12 seasons). In 1989, Hinson started his coaching career as the head coach at Mount Pleasant Middle (one season) before assisting Cal Wray, his former high school coach, for five seasons at Mount Pleasant High School. In 1995, Hinson took over as head coach, becoming just the third head coach in program history. In 25 years as head coach at Mount Pleasant, Hinson’s teams captured 19 regular season conference championships, four regional tournament titles, five regional runner-up finishes, and three dual team runner-up finishes. In 2007, Hinson guided Mount Pleasant to the 1A/2A state tournament championship.  In 2000, Hinson received the Time Warner – Star Teacher / Coach designation and has received two distinguished awards from the North Carolina High School Athletic Association: The Homer Thompson Memorial “Eight Who Make a Difference” Award (2002) and the “Special Person” Award (2012). Hinson retired from teaching and coaching in 2020 and remains active in wrestling as an official in the East Central Association.