BURDETTE, TINSLEY SUCCESSFUL ON
GRIDIRON AND
Publication: THE SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
Published: 02/16/1997
Page: P1D
Headline: BURDETTE, TINSLEY SUCCESSFUL ON GRIDIRON AND
Byline: TOMMY R. ATKINSON
FOR THE SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
After turning around the
Nitro football program, Robert Burdette and
Scott Tinsley have their sights set on basketball.
The two led Nitro to its
first playoff appearance since 1960 last
season, and hope to do the same for the girls
basketball program -
Burdette as the head coach and Tinsley as his assistant.
About a week before the girls first practice this season, coach
Forrest Hall resigned. Pat Vance, the Nitro athletic director, needed
someone to fill the void immediately.
"I could see concern
in coach Vance's approach,' Burdette said. "I
just went back and told Pat I'd do it and get Scott to help. Without
asking Scott, I knew I could get him to help."
Soon, word leaked out that
the two football coaches might try their
luck at basketball.
"They [players] had
heard Scott and I were going to do this. They came
and said we want to be coached and be coached hard. We want to be
coached like the boys,' said Burdette. "That kind of eliminated the
myth that you have to take it easy on girls.'
"We met with the girls
and parents at the beginning of the year. As
far as goals, we wanted to win every game,' added Tinsley. "If we're
going to do it, we're going to try and win. Eleven times this year
we've been able to do it.'
The pair are
leading Nitro to its best record in recent years. The
Wildcats are 11-8 overall and 7-5 in the Mountain State Athletic
Conference Gold Division. Last season under Hall,
Nitro was 5-15.
"This is probably the
best start we've ever had that I can remember,'
Vance said.
"They're a good bunch,
I'm glad I did it. I've known some of these
girls since I had them at A.J,' Burdette said, referring to his one
year stint as volleyball coach at
no idea what to expect. Whether or not they were any good, we had no
idea."
The relationship between
Burdette and Tinsley goes beyond the last few
seasons coaching football at Nitro.
The pair graduated from the
same high school -
together on the same football team.
Their paths would soon
cross again. Burdette was the offensive line
coach at
offensive coordinator. Their last two years at State, Tinsley was the
head coach.
"I think part of the
reason we're successful, Scott and I both
graduated from
Burdette. "We're trying to do what
[Williams] proven to be pretty successful.'
"I don't know of a
coach that is a better basketball coach than Tex
Williams at
and fundamentals. The offenses that we run are the offenses we ran
when I was playing. He's just a tremendous influence on all sports.'
In 1995, the two were
reunited at Nitro.
Tinsley left State and
became the Wildcats' offensive coordinator,
while Burdette was coaching the offensive line at Nitro. Burdette and
Tinsley switched positions last season, however, with the former
becoming Nitro's head man.
"We work well
together. If you go to most high schools, you'll find a
few coaches who work well together,' said Burdette. "There's no ego
or anything involved. It's one of those, that I know what he's
thinking before he knows what he's thinking.'
"We both know our
roles with each other,' Tinsley said. "I'm the
X's
and O's guy and he's the administrative guy. It's a great
relationship.
"I know our wives get
tired of picking up the phone and saying, 'coach
Tinsley or coach Burdette for you.'" It's good to have a friend like
Little [Burdette]. He trusts me enough to sell him a
car.'
Burdette pointed to senior
leadership as a key to Nitro's success this
season. The seniors include Melanie Casdorph,
Kathleen Schreck, Roshan
Sabapathypillai and Neema Avashia. The Wildcat seniors have never had
a winning season.
"Melanie's a rebounder,
Roshan is good at taking care of the ball,
hitting some 3s. Schreck, she's good coming in off
the bench. Neema is
as much an inspirational leader as anything else."
A big surprise to both
coaches has been the play of sophomore Katie
Snodgrass and freshman Lisa Cooper.
Snodgrass ranks in the top
five among Gold Division scoring leaders,
averaging 21.5 points per game.
"She was a surprise to
me. She never got to play much at all last
year,' said Burdette. "By the time Katie's in the 12th grade, she can
be something special.'
"Katie was just used
in a mop up roll last year,' Tinsley said.
"She's got a good touch from the outside. Good range. Plus, she can
bang around inside. She's got the total package.'
Cooper is averaging 11.5
points and is one of the top rebounders on
the team.
"She [Cooper] can run
the floor really well. She's been a real
pleasant surprise,' Burdette said.
"Lisa is the one I had
no idea about,' added Tinsley.
"Her height and
athletic ability caught our eye very quickly in
practice. Lisa is another tremendous talent who is going to continue
to get better. She's going to be a tremendous player.'
Burdette said that making
the transition from boys to girls sports
hasn't been that difficult.
"Everybody likes to
win and have fun. I don't think it's from boys to
girls that much, as it is from football to basketball,' said
Burdette. "I think they [girls] respond really well, because they know
were trying to help them.'
"These girls really
accept their role, more so than I think the guys
do,' Tinsley said.
"We're struggling with
that in the football program still. We had kids
transfer because they want to be a special position.
"I think once the kids
in football learn to accept their roles like
the girls have done, then we'll have even more success
than the past
year.'
There have been some awkward
moments for both coaches.
"I think the first day
we had practice one of the players cried. I had
no idea what she was crying about,' Burdette said.
"She was apologizing
and she couldn't stop. I just did the best I
could to ignore it and it went away. If they want to talk about it,
they'll talk about it. I try to stay out of it unless they talk.'
"That was something
you don't see very much of on the football field.
You've just got to accept the coaching and go on,' said Tinsley.
"They've learned to do that.'
Locker room etiquette has
also changed drastically.
"The most obvious
thing is, you have to knock before you enter,'
Tinsley said. "The locker room is a lot more
relaxed atmosphere. In
football, there's almost a pregame meditation.
"Once they go out of
the locker room, their focused. They can turn
what we call the switch on as soon as it's game time. We can look in a
guys eyes before a game and think they're focused. In that respect,
it's better coaching the girls.'
It is clear that Burdette
and Tinsley intend to continue coaching
girls basketball for a long time.
"I'm having a blast
with this girls basketball team. I really didn't
know it would be so much fun,' said Tinsley.
"I can see me doing
girls basketball for a long time.'
"I'm kind of glad
coach Vance asked me to do it,' added Burdette. "I
may do this forever. This is a lot of fun.'