WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — When Kirk Burnett looks back on who helped shape his coaching career, he counts himself very lucky because of who he has come into contact with along the way.
He played for legendary figures such as Les Evans at Airport and Dick Sheridan at Furman. He was a graduate assistant coach at Furman and was a part of the 1988 national championship team under head coach Jimmie Satterfield. For his first coaching jobs at Irmo in 1989 he was an assistant football coach under Joe Turberville and a baseball assistant under Strother Sligh.
His first head coaching job was in baseball at Spring Valley where he also was an assistant coach starting in 1993.
Two years later, he became the first head football coach ever at Ridge View, a program he started from scratch, while also serving as the head baseball coach. In football, he led the Blazers to their only appearance in the state finals, a 1998 loss to Marlboro County.
For the past 18 seasons, he has been the head coach at his alma mater at Airport High School where he had the dual role of athletics director.
But when the 2022 season kicks off, Burnett will not be walking the sidelines or overseeing a multitude of athletes as he is stepping down although he will remain at the school in some capacity.
Burnett’s decision has triggered a host of former athletes who have texted or called to congratulate the coach on a long and successful career of winning games but doing so the right way.
It has also allowed him a chance to look back on his six-week stint in training camp with the New York Jets. Burnett recalled during a practice head coach Joe Walton, thinking the rookie wide receiver had messed up a play, hollered “Burnett!”
But it was quarterback Ken O’Brien who immediately stepped in, saying, ‘No, coach. Burnett was where he was supposed to be’.
“That may have helped me survive the next cut,” Burnett said.
During practice when all the skill players had a turn with the first team offense, Burnett remembers in one huddle he looked around and saw O’Brien, running back Freeman McNeil, wide receiver Al Toon among notable Jets.
“I wish I could have taken a picture,” said Burnett who did take a piece of the Jets with him and it wasn’t practice gear.
After seeing a more accomplished wide receiver cut from the team, Burnett knew his brief time in the NFL was coming to a close and more than likely, the next time he was on a football field it would be as a coach.
So one night, Burnett took the New York Jets playbook to a nearby Kinko’s and spent all night copying the playbook. After all, not every rookie high school coach has an NFL playbook as a resource and Burnett was already planning ahead.
More than 30 years in the profession later, Burnett’s decision to step away from the coaching and AD duties doesn’t mean he will not be a fixture at Airport.
He still plans on staying on the staff at the school although he hasn’t totally closed the door on coaching one day again. But it would likely be in a less demanding role that running a varsity program. In the meantime, Burnett is looking forward to spending Sundays watching NFL games instead of breaking down video from the previous Friday night’s game. A Dallas Cowboys fan, he might actually get to watch their games from start to finish without wondering what the next day’s practice plans will entail or jotting down a scheme that pops into his mind.
While this decision to step away may have caught some people by surprise, it’s something Burnett says he has been thinking about for the last couple of years.
“I’ve had some great times here at Airport and Ridge View and Spring Valley and Irmo,” Burnett said.
“But you can kind of sense when you just look around and think, ‘Hey, this might be something that I need to go ahead and back off,put in my time and go do something different.”