Hogs’ Denny Burdine finds joy in coaching, educating-
Arkansas High’s Burdine finds joy and success in educating, coaching
Denny Burdine adapts and studies as well as he works. That’s because his life has been a series of learning, giving and succeeding with minimum setbacks.
Four years ago, Burdine returned from early retirement, and earlier this month he coached Arkansas High to its third straight 6A State Championship in track and field.
It was a cold, wet morning during the winter of 2003 that Burdine said he felt bored. If not for the rain he probably would have gone fishing or hunting and nothing would have changed.
Instead, he sipped his coffee, and decided he wanted to write something that would help younger coaches understand playing better defense in high school football.
“I was at a stage where it was time for a change,” he said. “When you’re an athletic director and head football coach (Arkansas High 1999-2002), it’s not just the football pressure you have. It’s all the other sports you have to deal with, including budgets, maintenance and the facilities. I thought I needed to go hunting and fishing a little bit more.
“So I retired from teaching and coaching; I was going to write one little book, but when I got through there were seven books,” the Magnolia, Ark., native said. “In college, they’re only going to tell you so much about coaching defense.”
“Coaching Defensive Football Successfully” was eventually published, and Burdine earns royalties twice a year after making his book deal with a group out of California.
“They sell it worldwide,” Burdine said. “It’s a pretty good deal, but I don’t make a lot of money off it. Most authors don’t make much money. But they put it out there and keep it going, which is pretty neat.”
With that mission accomplished, Burdine still needed more than hunting and fishing to keep him satisfied, so he went back to the classroom and athletic field. His peers welcomed him back with open arms.
“I love the classroom; I’d just as soon be teaching history, economics or politics as I would be on a football field or track,” Burdine said. So what made Burdine this way? He grew up on a farm. You couldn’t say Burdine was a diehard sports fan, but he did like seeing his favorite New York Yankees, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle occasionally on the television. He liked to crappie fish, and hunt turkey and deer.
Burdine also grew up in the oil fields near Magnolia, and worked at a young age with his dad.
“My dad also worked in construction,” he said. “I don’t know if I was old enough legally, but he’d take me out and I’d work. That’s where I got a lot of my work ethic. You learn if you work hard you can get what you want in life.”
At the same time it was very hard work in the oil fields and it didn’t take young Burdine long to realize he wanted to do something else.
There was little baseball being played in the high school ranks in the 1960s. Burdine made a name for himself playing catcher in Babe Ruth and American Legion during the summer months.
Surprisingly, he only played high school football one season. Legendary football coach Don Hubbard persuaded Burdine to play his senior year, and what a year it was.
The Magnolia Panthers won the 1968 state championship with a perfect 13-0 record, including 10 shutouts. Burdine played cornerback and some running back. Five of his team-
“We’ve got a lot of kids back from this year,” he said. “We also have some exceptional eighth- and ninth-graders coming up. I don’t know how long I’ll continue, but I’m sure there will come a time when I
say it’s time to go fishing. Right now, I love it here. I’m teaching some college-bound kids, and it’s fun.”
—DENNY BURDINE
mates earned scholarships to SMU, Arkansas and Air Force.
“Don Hubbard influenced me a lot in athletics,” Burdine said. “He was a very successful high school coach.”
Burdine was also a miler and pole vaulter on the track team.
However, his first love was baseball, and that’s why he stayed home and played for Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas University). The Muleriders’ baseball program was in the midst of change with newcomer Monroe Ingram being named head coach.
“Coach Ingram taught me you can coach any sport, even if you haven’t coached it before,” Burdine said. “He sort of learned from the players that first season. He was a teacher, and I think that’s what all coaches are— they’re teachers. If you can’t teach in the classroom, I don’t believe you can coach well. I’ve always said I can teach the astronauts if you give me the manual.”
If you didn’t live in Magnolia in 1971, you probably didn’t know Burdine and his father, Earl, built a baseball field next to their home.
“Not many people own their own baseball field,” Burdine said. “I loved baseball so much my dad built it, and we played American Legion and semipro ball on it.”
Despite being one of the Muleriders’ best hitters and leaders, there would be no pro ball in his future.
“I was always a good hitter, my arm was average,” he said. “I could even hit for power, but it’s a big world out there. Kids today need to realize kids in Puerto Rico and Cuba are playing baseball every single day. There’s a lot of competition.”
When Burdine got back into teaching and coaching he asked for the track job in addition to his duties as defensive coach of the Razorback football team.
“The reason was have success in track is because we have great track tradition. It started with Doc Walker back in the 1970s,” Burdine said. “Coach (Todd) Ledford and I agree that football and track go hand-inhand, and he told me when he hired me he wanted track back like the old Doc Walker days.”
Burdine is quick to point out track and field in Arkansas is different than it is in Texas.
“It doesn’t help you to have a great shot putter or discus thrower when relays could double points in Texas,” he said. “I can see why they do what they do, but we win with depth–like an army. We’re going to come at you with mass force. The guy that scores two points for me might be the guy that wins it for us.
“We wouldn’t be very good in Texas, and some of those Texas teams would not be very good in Arkansas.”
Burdine gives examples: His best triple jumper didn’t win at state this year, but his second-best triple jumper did. Last year his third-best shot putter won a state title.
Arkansas High splits its large squad into two teams at the beginning of each season and sends each to different meets each week.
“They all know they’re going to get to run track; if they show up they’re going to run every week,” Burdine said. “They can be the slowest guy at Arkansas High, but they’re still going to run. We get numbers that way. We then filter through what we’ve got. Because of this, I believe we work harder than some other schools in track.”
Burdine and his assistants also spend hours at night working on, and looking at what their opponents have in each event. He evaluated the teams at state this spring and was only two points off the final results.
The 64-year-old Burdine is looking forward to the next three or four track seasons and likes the program’s prospects.
“We’ve got a lot of kids back from this year,” he said. “We also have some exceptional eighth- and ninth-graders coming up. I don’t know how long I’ll continue, but I’m sure there will come a time when I say it’s time to go fishing. Right now, I love it here. I’m teaching some college-bound kids, and it’s fun.”