During a special edition of the Brownwood Lions Coach’s Show on KOXE Thursday, Brownwood ISD Assistant Superintendent and Athletic Director Mitch Moore addressed the future of the football program after head coach Sammy Burnett’s contract was not extended by the BISD Board of Trustees in a Monday night meeting.
Burnett’s contract does not expire until the summer of 2026, but Moore stated the Brownwood alum will not have the opportunity to coach the Lions for an eighth season. Moore also provided further insight on Burnett’s status with Brownwood ISD going forward.
“Currently he’s still on contract,” Moore said. “I sat down with him earlier this week and visited with him and there is not a definite plan for him right now with the district. We’ll be looking at that in the future. But we will be looking for a new head coach, that was part of that decision Monday. At this time there’s not specifics on what Sammy will be doing but we’ll be talking to him next week and getting a plan for his role with the district moving forward.”
In seven seasons at his alma mater, Burnett has guided the Lions to a 51-31 overall record with seven playoff appearances, a pair of district championships, and a trip to the Class 4A Division I Region I championship game in 2023.
Brownwood ISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Young recommended to the Board of Trustees Monday night to extend Burnett’s contract. By a 4-3 vote, however, the Board chose to go another route.
“Dr. Young’s been clear in his statements about his recommendation and again the board is elected and they have constituents they answer to and they made a decision based on their constituents and who they talked to,” Moore said. “But yes, Dr. Young has been consistent in what his recommendation was. That’s the process that we went through.”
There has been considerable feedback from the public on social media, as well as an online poll opposing the Board of Trustees’ decision to not extend Burnett’s contract that has surpassed 1,500 signatures.
Regarding whether the matter of Burnett’s contract will be taken up again by the BISD Board of Trustees in the future due to the public outcry, Moore said, “The board will have to make that decision, that is not a district decision. It would be on the board to bring it back up on the agenda.”
Burnett had not been serving in his previous role as athletic director, which he also undertook when he was hired by Brownwood ISD in 2018, since January, a move Moore – who is now serving in that capacity – stated had been discussed on multiple occasions in the past.
“That’s been in motion in for over a year,” Moore said. “Coach Burnett has been in conversations with myself and Dr. Young, and that’s where more schools are going these days. There’s becoming such an administrative burden on athletic directors with budgets and day-to-day operations and UIL things. We just continued to discuss the advantages of allowing the head football coach to focus on his sport like other coaches are allowed. He understood that and was good with that and understood the reasoning behind it. Me being able to take some of that off his plate, I was happy to do that because I felt it was a help to him.”
With a change in the head football coach, there is also uncertainty for the assistant coaches on the staff, which Moore addressed.
“Each teacher/coach has their own individual contract so they are not linked to a head coach’s contract, they stand alone,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of emotions going on and for good reason. These guys come here, a lot were hired by Coach Burnett, some were here before. Within the coaching world this happens, so they’ll be making decisions based on what’s best for their professional careers and their families. I did speak briefly with the coaching staff and Coach Burnett Tuesday morning, and I still support them. I support coaches and have my entire career. We have good coaches, we want them to stay and be in Brownwood working with our kids, but at the same time they have to make the decisions on what they want to do. It’s an emotional time when any kind of change happens, it’s difficult, but I want them to take care of themselves and their families.”
Regarding decisions on the next head football coach for the Brownwood Lions, Moore stated, “We have not started anything. Dr. Young and I will be visiting soon daily and we’ll come up with a plan moving forward. As of now nothing has been developed, or issued out or put out. We’re taking care of other things we need to take care of, but we’ll be developing a plan in the near future and I’ll be happy to share that.”
Moore did state, however, the intent is for the head football coach and athletic director positions to remain separate.
“My understanding is it will remain split because of the same reasons we were wanting to support Coach Burnett as the football coach only,” Moore said. “I’ll remain in that role for the foreseeable future, but we want the focus for each head coach to be on their own sport to quote Sammy Burnett, ‘so they can be a master of their craft.’ We want to continue that and I believe that is the direction we’re going to go.”