Written by Ben Cox – New Brownwood Lions head coach and Athletic Director Sammy Burnett is a man passionate about his sport, his team, and his hometown. Excited is not a strong enough word to convey the feelings he has as he prepares for his first season at the helm of the very team that began his football career.
Playing football for the Lions means a great deal to him, and he plans to instill that sense of pride into his players, as well as resurrect old traditions from days gone by. Carrying the helmets on the bus, wearing the maroon blazers and ties at pep rallies, and other traditions of respect and excellence will be retuning to the team. The team will have to earn the right to wear the seven stars on their uniforms, and they will not be worn until the team makes the playoffs.
“Tradition to me is the lifestyle. It’s the walk, it’s how you do what you do,” Coach Burnett said. “I want our kids to take ownership and pride in who they are where they’re from. The tradition is the community.”
The old look of the program will be returning to the field as well, but it’s not just a stylistic change for appearance sake. Coach Burnett says “I want people to relate, I want our kids to understand the roots, I want dad to relate to son, and I think a lot of it is the image. We talk about culture, we talk about history, we talk about Coach Wood but there’s no bridge between Coach Wood and our kids today. They walk by those statues out there and there’s not a ton of meaning to them, and because I don’t know that anybody put any meaning to it, because they’re not from here. Not knocking those other guys, but this is where I’m from, these are my roots.”
Almost on the verge of tears several times during this interview, Coach Burnett blames it on a lack of sleep. That is possible, but it is also quite likely due to an overwhelming sense of pride and respect for the position he has been given. The history of the Lions Football program is very real to Burnett, as he talks about his time as a player and what it means to be the head coach of this storied team.
“Everything that I do or that I have done relates to home and what I learned while I was here. And I want to instill that in our kids, because that was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. We took ownership in who we were and where we were from.”
Burnett talks about watching his brother win a state championship, and the fear he had of not getting to be part of the team when his parents moved them away for two years. Returning to town just before his freshman year, he got the opportunity to live his dream as a player for Coach Wood.
Burnett says that while he got to live his dream on the field as a player, he couldn’t imagine he would be in the Head Coaches position for the team he loves so much.
“I would never, ever have put myself in the same sentence with Gordon Wood, but I have the same opportunity to make an impact on kids like he did,” Coach Burnett said. “I think I can do that, and if I do, the rewards will come and they will come from 25 year old men that went through the program that want their kids to go through the program.”
A sense of pride in your community is something he tried to instill in his players in Farmersville, because that is what he was taught in Brownwood.
“For a long time I shared that with other kids, but I couldn’t bring the Brownwood factor into it. I just tried to teach them what I learned and what they didn’t know is they were Brownwood Lions, but I related it to them being Farmersville Farmers because that’s who their parents were. But to be able to come home and do that, is very special to me and there won’t be a day that goes by where I take it for granted… I believe the Lord put me here at the right time.”
Coach Burnett, when asked about the burden of history that comes with the mantle of being the Brownwood Lions head coach, says “I don’t think it’s a burden at all, I think it’s a blessing, because I got to live it. The burden is making sure I connect that with the present.”
Football isn’t the only sport Burnett cares about, “people won’t believe me when I say this… I am also passionate about girls’ tennis. If we’re gonna put on a maroon and white uniform and it says Brownwood Lions across it, we’re gonna be the best that we can be, period. And everybody is going to want to be like us. That’s the bar I want to set, and it doesn’t matter what sport it is, from soccer to tennis to baseball, to softball to volleyball to basketball, we’re gonna be the best.”
