Written by Amanda Coers – After a special-called Brownwood ISD Board of Trustees meeting held on Thursday, Feb. 22nd at 12:15 p.m., board members elected Coach Sammy Burnett as the new Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. The room erupted with applause, welcoming Burnett and his family. Burnett is the first Brownwood High School Graduate to lead the Lions in the modern era. He was an All-District and Honorable Mention All-State Defensive Back while playing under Coaches Gordon Wood and Randy Allen.

 

 

Coach Burnett is a 1988 graduate of Brownwood High School and was the first recipient of the Kyle Crews Memorial Scholarship. Coach Burnett has earned a Coca-Cola National Educator of Distinction Award and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Howard Payne University. He and his wife, Kathleen, have four children ages 24, 15, 12, and 6 years old.

 

Coach Sammy Burnett introduces his family

 

Dallas Huston, the Voice of the Brownwood Lions, offered a special welcome to Coach Burnett via video message. In the video, Dallas shared Coach Burnett’s history of success.

“It’s my honor right now to come up with a way to introduce this man to you,” Huston said in the video. “I think I’ll do it by simply saying this: Welcome home, Sammy Burnett, welcome home.”

A release from the school district details Burnett’s road back home:

Coach Sammy Burnett comes to Brownwood from Farmersville ISD where he has been the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach since 2012. Farmersville is currently ranked seventh in the state for the 2018 UIL Lone Star Cup. In the eight seasons as head football coach, Burnett has made seven playoff appearances and has compiled a 58 and 32 record. In 2016, Coach Burnett was named the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 3A Coach of the Year after an 11-2 playoff run.

Brownwood ISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Young said in the release, “We are extremely excited for Coach Burnett to be our next Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. His success as an athletic director and coach stand alone, but when combined with his background as a Brownwood Lion, it is a unique opportunity for greatness.”

Addressing the attendees, Burnett expressed gratitude for the opportunity to continue the Brownwood Lions Tradition.

 

 

“It’s been a 24-year vision of mine to put myself in a position to come back to Brownwood and stand where I’m at,” Coach Burnett said. “Athletics is a tool that we use in my profession to mold young people so they can be productive members of society. I look forward to getting started with the kids as soon as possible so that I can instill the beliefs that I was taught into them, give them consistency, give them leadership, and hopefully every day they will see me in the act of excellence.”

The coach took a moment to thank his mother, Linda Burnett, a teacher at Brownwood High and Middle School for over 30 years. Linda Burnett, 75, passed away at age 75 in August, 2016.

“I got to watch her serve people,” Coach Burnett said, his voice full of emotion. “She taught us that you get out of life what you put into it, and I’ve always rested on that and try to use the morals and values that she shared with me.”

Coach Burnett also recognized and thanked past Lions coaches including Freeman, Shipley, Howard, Maxfield, Wood, West, Agnew, Wilson, Gabaree, Allen, Harrison, and more.

“I’m standing here today because of quality men like that,” he said. “It is my desire to make sure that every kid that goes through Brownwood ISD that participates in athletics or does not has an opportunity to experience the relationships that I had with the quality Christian men that were put into my life.”

In conclusion, Coach Burnett said, “God Bless those Brownwood Lions.”