Robert Burlingham - Men's Basketball Coach (2024)

Robert Burlingham is entering his second season at Middle Tennessee afterjoining MTSU men's basketball as Director of Basketball Operations in the summer of 2023, reuniting with Nick McDevitt. He spent the previous two seasons on the staff at McNeese State University under head coach John Aiken as the Director of Basketball Operations.

With the Blue Raiders, Burlingham oversees the student-managers and graduate assistants, coordinates and runs the Nick McDevitt Basketball summer camps, organizes team travel logistics and manages the ordering and distribution of Nike team gear, as well as overall team development at practices. Additionally, he also assists the staff with the creation of opposing team scouting reports and on court workouts.

During Burlingham’s time at McNeese, the Cowboys made school history in back-to-back postseasons with a win in the Southland Conference Tournament in 2021-2022 against Northwestern State and with two wins against Texas A&M Commerce & Nicholls State in 2022-2023. Burlingham oversaw Graduate Assistants/Managers, oversaw all logistics on team travel, oversaw and monitored the team budget, aided with McNeese compliance and student services to oversee all student-athlete academic progress, and was the Camp Director for the John Aiken Basketball Camp. Burlingham aided with the growth of guard Johnathan Massie, who captured Southland Freshman of the Year in 2021-2022 while forward Christian Shumate garnered Third Team All-Southland recognition in 2021-2022 and was named Second Team All-Conference in 2022-2023.

Before McNeese, Burlingham worked as a Graduate Assistant at Central Michigan during the 2019-2020 & 2020-2021 seasons. He worked for 2008 AP Coach of the Year Keno Davis, assisting with player development, conducted scouting reports, assisted with academic advising, and oversaw Adidas gear inventory. During the 2019-20 season, the Chippewas ranked first in the Mid-American Conference and 21st nationally in steals per game (9.1). He also oversaw student managers, and aided with player development of David DiLeowho is the MAC all-time leading 3-point scorer as well as CMU's all-time leading 3-point shooter.

Prior to CMU,Burlingham served as the recruiting coordinator at West Virginia Tech following a stint at Carolina Day School for both varsity and junior varsity boys teams. It was at WVU Tech during the 2018-19 season where he was the top assistant and helped guide the Golden Bears to a 30-5 record, River States Conference regular season and conference tournament champions, and advancement to the NAIA National Tournament second round, the furthest any WVU Tech team has even advanced. Under Burlingham’s development with head coach Bob Williams, the Golden Bears had three All-Conference players named in the River States Conference during the 2018-2019 season. With Burlingham coaching the guards, Guard Elisha Boone was also named on the 2018-2019 NAIA First Team All American roster while guard Brandon Shingles received NAIA All American Honorable Mention honors. Burlingham also helped oversee and focused on the Golden Bear's offense which finished the 2018-2019 season ranking second in points per game (94.8), third inassists per game (18.1), third in 3-point field goal percentage (41.9%), and seventh in Offensive Rebounds Per Game (13.5).

After the 2016 season, Burlingham returned to McDevitt’s staff, joining current MT assistant coach Logan Johnson, in Asheville as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations from spring until the end of the summer where he assisted with the daily functions of the program, coordinated and ran the UNC Asheville Kids Camp, Team Camp and Elite Camp, assisted with player workouts over the summer, assisted with travel reservations and logistics and organized film.

Prior to his return to McDevitt’s staff, Burlingham worked at Western Carolina University where he worked under Ohio Hall of Fame Coach Larry Hunter – and current Blue Raider assistant coach Eric Wilson – as a manager (2014-16). He assisted in workouts, assisted with stats during game play, worked with film and distribution of film to opponents and the Southern Conference, assisted Director of Operations with functions of the program, and assisted with travel logistics.

Burlingham began his coaching career as a student manager under McDevitt at UNC Asheville (2013-14) where he was in charge of film and day-to-day functions of the program while also assisting with player workouts, basketball operations and team inventory.

Burlingham then moved on to Western Carolina University where he worked under Ohio Hall of Fame Coach Larry Hunter – and current Blue Raider assistant coach Eric Wilson – as a manager (2014-16). He assisted in workouts, assisted with stats during game play, worked with film and distribution of film to opponents and the Southern Conference, assisted Director of Operations with functions of the program, and assisted with travel logistics.

A native of Asheville, North Carolina, he earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Western Carolina in 2016 and his M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan in 2021. Burlingham is also a member of Nations of Coaches, where they work to develop Character Coaches, helping programs achieve a higher level of play both on and off the courts.