BURDETTE ERA COMES TO AN END AT NITRO FOOTBALL, GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH LEAVES FOR SOUTH CAROLINA JOB

Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 06/26/2002
Page: 1B
Headline: BURDETTE ERA COMES TO AN END AT NITRO FOOTBALL, GIRLS BASKETBALL COACH LEAVES FOR SOUTH CAROLINA JOB
Byline: JIM WORKMAN

jworkman@wvspn.com

Robert "Little" Burdette is taking a big jump. And he's leaving behind large voids that need to be filled.

The successful Nitro High School coach, who has won a Class AAA state championship in football and taken his girls basketball program to state-title contender status, accepted similar positions at Waccamaw High School in Pawleys Island, S.C., this week.

He'll be an assistant varsity football coach and head girls basketball coach for the Warriors.

Waccamaw High School is similar to Nitro in size, with about 550 students in grades 9-12. It is a Class AA school in a state that has four classes. Nitro is the smallest AAA school in West Virginia with 623 enrolled in the upper three grades, according to the latest Secondary School Activities Commission figures.

Burdette is working perhaps his last task at Nitro this week, directing the Wildcat youth football camp at Underwood Field. Between the end of school and this week's camp, Burdette made a couple of southbound treks that led to his decision - first a pleasure trip, which led to a second trip to conduct business.

"We've been going down there [to Pawleys Island] on vacation for about 15 years now," Burdette said Tuesday. "I went down there right after school this year and was told about jobs being available. I looked around and talked to [Waccamaw High assistant principal] Jerry Hughes. When I got back home, I got a call from the principal. We went back down and met the head football coach, they interviewed me, and I was offered a job."

The offer was too good to pass up.

"I decided it was a good opportunity for me and my family," said Burdette.

The Warriors recently hired six-year assistant coach James Brown as their head coach.

"We're looking forward to having Robert come down here," said Hughes. "The football program has been down for the last few years here. We only had about 25 [players] out last year. But we have been reassessing things, and we're looking to turn things around."

Hughes said the school's weight program has seen as many as 75 participants this spring.

"We have a great bunch of kids to work with," Hughes said. "We're looking forward to Robert giving them some direction. We know he's coming from a great program, so I guess your area's loss is our gain."

Hughes was involved in the interview process.

"As a former coach, I could tell that [Burdette] had good experiences," said Hughes. "And I was impressed with his commitment to young people."

The fact that Waccamaw was shopping for both an assistant football coach and a head girls basketball coach further confirmed to Hughes that Burdette was the right man at the right time.

"Our girls basketball coach just resigned to take the athletic director's position," Hughes said. "He just fit the bill for both positions we needed. We feel really fortunate to have him."

As enticing as a fresh start is, especially in new surroundings, leaving behind the relationships he has established in the Kanawha Valley made leaving Nitro a tough decision.

"Nitro has been a real good place for me and my family," Burdette said. "The hard part is leaving behind the football program before we had a chance to build it back up, and leaving behind the girls basketball team that we've put a lot of work into."

Burdette predicted nothing but great things for the Wildcat programs.

"The football team will be tough if they can tackle," he said. "Derek Midkiff is a special quarterback that is capable of doing things that only J.R. House has done before him. He wants to win. I want to see him and the team do well.

"The girls will win and they'll be back in the thick of things whether I'm here or not. I'll miss the relationships more than basketball. But I think if you asked [all-state guard] Megan Withrow, she'd tell you that I have to do what's best for me and my family. It's an opportunity I have to take."

Burdette compiled a 45-21 record in his six years as head football coach at Nitro. In his first season in 1996, House led the Wildcats' high-powered offense to a 7-4 record and a first-round playoff appearance, the school's first in many years. House became the first sophomore to win the coveted Kennedy Award, given by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association to the state's top high school football player that year.

In 1997, Nitro went 9-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

But it was 1998 that put Nitro, House, Burdette, offensive coordinator Scott Tinsley and senior wide receiver Chris Martin on the national football map. National career passing and receiving records fell as the Wildcats went 14-0 and claimed the Class AAA state title. House shared his second Kennedy Award with Weir senior running back Quincy Wilson, who had just set the West Virginia single-season rushing record.

Burdette's football program suffered its first losing record in 2001, going 3-7 in the Mountain State Athletic Conference.

The Nitro girls basketball team advanced to the Class AAA state championship game in 2001 and the quarterfinals in 2002 before being eliminated by eventual state champion Capital High both seasons. The Wildcats are expected to be a Class AAA title contender again this year.