Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
The Meridian, Miss., native joined the MSU staff in June 2008 after having served as an assistant coach in the Big 12 Conference for the Kansas State Wildcats in 2008.
Burroughs, in his 17th season as a baseball coach, is well-schooled in Magnolia State baseball. He played the sport on the high school, junior college and senior college level in Mississippi, and all but three of his first 14 years in the coaching profession have come in the state of Mississippi, including a highly-successful nine-year stint as an assistant coach at Southern Miss.
This is Burrough's second coaching assignment under John Cohen. He was a member of Cohen's coaching team at Northwestern (La.) State in 1997 and 1998.
At USM Burroughs served as recruiting coordinator, infield coach, and handled in-game duties as USM's coach in the third base coaching box. He excelled in each, but gained much acclaim in his role as hitting coach and in the development of Southern Miss' hitters. He coached seven all-Americans, nine freshman all-Americans, 10 position players that went on to sign professional baseball contracts, five of those as top 10 round selections in the Major League baseball draft.
During his nine-year coaching term on Corky Palmer's USM staff in Hattiesburg, Southern Miss made its first six NCAA postseason regional tournament appearances. Among the Burroughs-coached Golden Eagles that earned all-American status was Jarrett Hoffpauir, who in 2004 reigned as the nation's toughest player to strike out. During Burrough's stay USM claimed the program's initial C-USA title, set the school mark with 47 wins in 2003 and establish standards for hits, runs scored and RBI in 2004.
Burroughs launched his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, Mississippi College, serving there one season before assuming a post as an assistant coach under Bill Baldner at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss., in 1997.
He began his coaching association with John Cohen a year later as an assistant coach at Northwestern (La.) State, helping direct the Demons to a 40-20 mark and the 1998 Southland Conference Championship.
Following the 2007 campaign at USM, Burroughs moved from Conference USA to the Big 12 Conference, accepting an assistant coaching position on the staff of Brad Hill at Kansas State University. That season the Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
Burroughs played high school baseball at West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, Miss., where he was coached by the legendary Jerry Boatner, one of the all-time winningest coaches in Mississippi high school baseball history, and was a teammate of Mississippi State All-American and Major League pitching standout Jay Powell.
He continued his baseball career at Meridian Community College playing for coach Corky Palmer, where MCC claimed NJCAA Region 23 titles in both 1992 and 1993. Burroughs continued his baseball career at Mississippi College, where he played for coach Tom Gladney the next two seasons and was honored as an All-Gulf South Conference outfielder and the team MVP in 1995, his final campaign with the Choctaws.
At Mississippi State Burroughs works extensively with State's recruiting efforts, which have garnered top 25 national ranking in each of his first three seasons in Starkville.
Burroughs is married to the former Susan Parker of Meridian, Miss., and they are the parents of three children, daughters Parker Grace and Camryn Laine son Thomas Jackson.
Coaching Career
- 1996: Graduate Assistant Coach, Mississippi College
- 1997: Assistant Coach, East Mississippi CC
- 1997-98: Assistant Coach, Northwestern State
- 1999-2007: Assistant Coach, Southern Miss
- 2008: Assistant Coach, Kansas State University
- 2009-present: Assistant Coach, Mississippi State University
