An assistant director by the '40s, Hibbs helmed his first film in 1953, the football drama The All-American. Over the '50s he specialized in westerns, most notably the Audie Murphy oaters Ride Clear of Diablo, Walk the Proud Land, and Ride a Crooked Trail; he also directed Murphy in an adaptation of the actor's autobiography To Hell and Back, the boxing drama World in My Corner, and the postwar adventure tale Joe Butterfly. By the end of the '50s Hibbs switched his attention to television, where he helmed numerous episodes of Perry Mason, Ironside, and The FBI.