HARRISONBURG – If you have watched high school basketball in the Shenandoah Valley over the past quarter-century, you probably know a little bit about Harrisonburg native Don Burgess.
Burgess was a standout player in high school for Coach Roger Begey and the Harrisonburg Blue Streaks and then went on to carve out a Hall of Fame career on the hardwood at Radford University.
He then embarked on a coaching career that led him to stops at Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, VMI, High Point, Bridgewater College and ultimately, back to Harrisonburg High School.
Burgess has been either playing basketball or coaching basketball for more than three decades. He is now going to take a break from coaching as he recently announced he was resigning as the Blue Streaks head coach to take a position as assistant principal.
If you know "Don Don", you know there is just one thing more important than hoops and that’s family. That’s why he is stepping away from coaching so, as he put it, he can be a dad.
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the years in the gym,’ Burgess said. “I missed some things with my kids when they were growing up. Jadon is going to be playing his second year of basketball at Mary Washington and my daughter Kaley just took a job as an athletic trainer down the road at VMI.
“There is a very short window where I can spend some time with my grown kids,” Burgess continued. “I want to be able to see Jadon’s games. If I want to go down to VMI and watch a game and see my daughter, I want to be able to it. It’s an opportunity for me to be a dad and support my kids.”
In addition to coaching the basketball team, Burgess served as Dean of Students at Harrisonburg. That gave him the opportunity to see the administrative side of working at the high school. When a chance to be an assistant principal, a 12-month position, became a possibility, Burgess felt as if the timing was right.
“Last year, I think I missed four of Jadon’s games because I had a game at Harrisonburg,” said Burgess. “Without knowing this year’s schedules, who knows, maybe I would have had to miss eight games. As an assistant principal, I can still have an impact on the students at Harrisonburg and I’ll have the time to support my kids as they continue to grow as young adults.”
Burgess has been coaching hoops for nearly 30 years. He’s not sure how he will feel when it’s time for practice to start this season.
“It’s going to be odd for sure,” he said. “The past nine years or so, I’ve spent a lot of time in that gym and on those old yellow school buses. It’s going to be different for my wife Stephanie also. She’s had her own routine during basketball season. I know she won’t be baking as many cookies for the team as she has been. She will have to get used to having me around more.”
Don’t expect Burgess to walk away from hoops completely. The sport has been too ingrained in his life. There’s a chance, he hasn’t coached his final game.
“I’m not throwing my whistle away, I’m just going to put it on the shelf for a little while,” he said. “Now, I’m going to be an assistant principal. But you don’t know how things might play out down the road.”