Heading into year #4 at HigbeeOnly a few weeks away from starting on year number 4 at Higbee. I am a very analytical person in terms of success so I do look at numbers a tremendous amount regarding anything and everything I do and our program does. A lot of this comes from a business mindset and being judged on production, in business if you do not produce you move on. This pushes me to be the best coach I can be, I will never be satisfied with mediocrity, and sometimes people do not understand that mindset.
Coaching Win/Loss Records 2013-Present: 46-31 Varsity 26-17 Junior High Girls 8-6 Junior High Boys 7-8 Junior Varsity Girls 87-62 Total Games coached (149) Varsity and Junior High girls are 29-7 at Home since the beginning of the 2013 season. This community has set itself apart in my mind for the sheer fact that they are involved as much as possible and that is appreciated by any coach or program. We have been able to get: New mats around the gym, new scoreboards, new player boards, new painted handrails, doors, and base of the stage, and new uniforms this season. We have had numerous fundraisers to cover costs associated with summer basketball and warm ups last season that the gracious community supported every single time! THANK YOU to the HIgbee Booster Club, Higbee Alumni Association and the entire Higbee Community! Probably the biggest lesson in life is that we are not all equal in terms of talent, ability, effort, work ethic, character, determination, desire, drive, passion, or countless other intangibles. This is all the same once students gain a diploma. Sometimes being a part of something bigger than yourself can have an everlasting impact on you as an individual; I know it had that effect on me. In my first three years, we have had some tremendous talent graduate from the #HigbeeLadyTigers basketball program that had a huge impact on our success and this year’s senior class will be the first class to play for me their entire high school career: Ashley Berendzen- 1,000+ rebounds Hope Clark- 1,000+ points, 900+ rebounds Daina Derboven- 700 rebounds, the first Higbee Lady Tiger to graduate with a career winning record since at least the 1980’s All three of these young women have sought success after high school and that is what it is all about It is an exciting time to be a Higbee Tiger and I think that this year will be the best yet for a plethora of reasons.
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In 2008 I created a website called MidMissouriBasketball.org , which no longer exists. I created this site for the sole purpose of getting people recognized in the state of Missouri. This site encompassed 50+ schools of all sizes from around the state. The part that I was inclined to work the hardest on was the recruiting area. I listed every school with a woman’s college basketball program in the state of Missouri and Southern Iowa for players to have a direct link to be recruited. I used the tools I created and talked my sister Brittney Burton, into being my test dummy if you will just to see if we could get her recruited to play collegiate basketball. I helped fill out questionnaires and sent emails to every college in Missouri and Southern Iowa. Needless to say we started this process during Christmas break her senior year at Hallsville High School in 2008. Emails came in rather quickly from schools both good and not so good, I remember her even getting an email from Cindy Stein at that time the Head coach at Mizzou. It was narrowed down to about 10 colleges from NAIA to NCAA Division II that began to follow her remainder of the season and most games had a scout in attendance to watch her play. Brittney was a solid point guard that limited turnovers and was able to shoot inside 15 feet with her right or left hand. She had toughness or grit about her that separated her from others, but nothing that would garner her accolades in the area for basketball. Persistence helped her get the door open to play at the collegiate level, we had constant contact with coaches and updated them after every game. Brittney decided to take her talents to Maryville University to play for the Saints. This program was elite at the NCAA D-III level. Her freshman season they broke the NCAA D-III record for consecutive conference wins, I believe around 95. Last year, I walked into a program that has seen limited success in the realm of winning games, but I saw the diamonds in the rough if you will and have made a focus on helping get players playing at a higher level. I coach the junior high girls team along with high school girls, mainly this is to help build this program to the strongest potential. I have taken my skills from the previous experience with my sister to help elevate and get some recognition for girls in our program so that they too will have the opportunity to chase their dreams of playing collegiate athletics to help pay for their college education. My first season I was approached by a school for Ashley Berendzen (2014) to play for a small college in Illinois. This season and last season a few schools have shown interest and even made offers for Hope Clark (2015) to play for them. Not to mention two outstanding sophomores in Rhiannon Runyon and Sabrina Huddleston (2017), that have already drawn some attention to themselves to play at the next level. At the end of the day, the reason I coach is to help shape my players to be great people. I also want to help them be successful in life and will do anything I can to help them achieve their dreams and I think that is why our team is more like a family. If I can do something little like help get them recruited and that can help them attend college with limited or no loans that is a win in my book. Arguably, the biggest shot in my sisters career to win over conference rival Southern Boone on Senior Night.
This was an article I wrote in 2007 for the Northern Boone County Bullseye and was republished by various media outlets and in a MSHSAA Journal. Sports Column January 10, 2007 By Tanner Burton Parents Gone Wild It is more than obvious that a career in refereeing would be stressful and would probably lead to many gray hairs. With that said, who hasn’t yelled at a referee or an official at an athletic contest? The answer is simply most people tend to express many frustrations and displeasures with calls in an unjust, malicious, and undermining manner. In reality being an official is a side job for most and a career for some, while most people attending the games also work for a living. While at your place of work people don’t yell and call you out at the drop of a dime because they thought they saw you make a mistake. Most of the time they don’t call you out in front of hundreds of people and then continue to nag and complain, when they assume you are wrong. Refereeing is very subjective, so mistakes are inevitable. Everyone goes through life and end up on both sides of the mistakes good and bad; no single call ever decided a championship or a basketball game of any sort. I mean if that’s how you look at a missed or blown call you are sadly mistaken. Your team is never going to shoot 100% from the field and will never get all of the rebounds, so there is always room for improvement on the team’s end of the game. How many times do you see a missed lay up or missed free throws at crucial points in a game? How many times do you call that athlete out on that crucial miss? A politically correct answer is never, because they are giving their all and playing a game they love. No athlete goes on the court with 10 seconds left in a tie game and says, “Man I hope I miss this shot to lose the game.” Just like no referee goes on the floor saying, “I want to blow a call” or “I want to cause problems for a certain team on a given night,” because truthfully who wants to be called out and yelled at for two hours. I am saying all of this because I have noticed a huge increase of outlandish ridicule from parents contrary to the past when students got on the referees and that is not something that should be happening when it comes to high school athletics. If you are out of high school and want to rant and rave and look like a goober in front of hundreds of people go to a Mizzou game and do it with 10,000 people and let the high school athletes play their game without hysteria coming from the stands. Don’t get me wrong the atmosphere for a high school game is great, especially when it’s down to the wire and everyone is going nuts, but there is a line between riding a referee all night long and supporting your team. Let the coach deal with a missed calls and the coaching of their team. That’s what they are paid to be there for. The coach is in control of their team and nothing from the stands is going to help the players play better in any situation, especially when the athletes are trying to ignore directions from the stands. Out of the eight area head coaches, there isn’t one coach that doesn’t understand the game of basketball, they all are good coaches and have done a lot to help their teams in rebuilding as in the case of Sturgeon or Centralia or the building of area powers in Harrisburg and Hallsville. I suggest that people that cannot contain themselves get certified through MSHSAA and get on the court or whatever playing field you enjoy and fix all the problems with the “terrible officials.” For anyone interested in refereeing you can go to mshsaa.org and find the information about how to become a state sanctioned official. |
Tanner BurtonA man trying to make a huge impact on my players and community on a daily basis ArchivesCategories |