Bulls assistant returns to South Carolina

[Guest Wally_Burnham_Da_Man]

Bulls assistant returns to South Carolina, where he was vilified

PETE IACOBELLI

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - If it wasn't Brad's fault, it had to be Wally's.

That was the continual cry of some South Carolina fans for five years as the regime of coach Brad Scott and defensive coordinator Wally Burnham took the Gamecocks from their first bowl victory in 1994 to one of their worst seasons at 1-10 in 1998.

Now, six years after Scott and his Gamecock assistants were fired, Burnham returns to Williams-Brice Stadium with South Florida this week as co-defensive coordinator of the country's top defense.

"In a lot of ways, we run the same things I ran up there. I guess Gamecock fans will be glad of that," Burnham joked.

Burnham and his South Carolina defense got a steady dose of criticism during his five seasons. A lot of it was warranted. "Hey, we didn't get the job done. They've got a right to support their team," he said. "I just don't like it when it gets personal. But I can take it."

There was a lot to take. South Carolina fans were thrilled when Scott and Burnham helped the Gamecocks to a winning season and a 24-21 victory over West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl in the pair's first season here in 1994.

But then the defense collapsed in the next season, giving up about 420 yards and 35 points a game - last in the Southeastern Conference. No matter how well the defense played after that - it ranked 22nd in the country a year later in 1996 - Burnham took as much heat as Brad Scott for the team's shortcomings.

"No, it absolutely wasn't justified. You win as a team, you lose as a team. You win as a staff, you lose as a staff," said Scott, now Clemson's assistant head coach and offensive line coach. But "that's only natural in this day and age of college football."

The end came in 1998 following a 1-10 season and a 10-game losing streak. Burnham took it hard. "I had just gotten fired. I never wanted to coach again," he said.

So Burnham, 62, took a year away from the game. He found he missed the field, the teaching and the players. When South Florida coach Jim Leavitt called in 2000, Burnham was refreshed and ready to get back in.

"I was glad I did it. Self-evaluation can be good for anyone in any profession," Burnham said.

Burnham started coaching defensive ends. In 2001, Burnham was given a share of coordinator duties with Rick Kravitz. South Florida, which went from Division I-AA to I-A three years ago, was 17th in the country defensively each of the past two seasons.

This year, the Bulls lead the nation in total defense, allowing only 145 yards in a 21-7 victory over Tennessee Tech last week.

Much of the credit goes to Burnham, Leavitt said.

"We had the opportunity to bring Wally back to the state of Florida to coach again, we were real fortunate," Leavitt said. "He's one of the best out there. He's very thorough, handles players extremely well."

Burnham knows things won't be so easy against his old school. But Burnham promises he won't complicate things with a sappy, win-one-for-the-old-defensive coordinator plea. "This is just a game on the schedule," he says. "I can assure you I'll have no special feelings coming back. I spent more years away from there than I did coaching" at South Carolina.

That was vastly different from Burnham's ex-South Carolina coach Scott, who turned the Palmetto State spotlight on himself when he took an assistant's job at Clemson only weeks after his Gamecock dismissal in December 1998.

When "Tiger Brad" returned to Williams-Brice for the first time the next fall, it brought a wave of feelings Scott says he couldn't totally plug into until after it was over.

Both Burnham and Scott, who talk every so often, said this latest homecoming won't be as hard to handle.

Burnham has a number of good friends in Columbia he'll catch up with this weekend if time allows. He's proud of the players he and the staff brought into South Carolina and was truly excited when the Gamecocks won back-to-back Outback Bowl victories after the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Burnham says he learned a lot from his time here. But he won't let any catcalls he might hear at his old place of work get him down.

"When I think of it now, it was a great experience," Burnham said. "I hope people see it that way, too."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/9670972.htm?1c

[Guest Related_Note]

Burnham expects boo birds in his return to Columbia

By David Cloninger The Herald

(Published September 16‚ 2004)

South Carolina fans better start practicing their booing, because one of their favorite targets from the past is coming back to town Saturday.

Wally Burnham expects to hear a lot of it, anyway -- as an assistant coach for the visiting South Florida Bulls, that's only natural. He won't mind.

He heard the same thing when he was South Carolina's defensive coordinator from 1994 to 1998 -- and it wasn't always at the opposing team.

"I've been gone six years, so I've been gone longer than I was there," Burnham said. "But I've got memories like anyone else."

Burnham was in charge of the Gamecocks' defense under Brad Scott, both coming from Florida State after the Seminoles' 1993 national championship season. The duo lasted five tumultuous years -- a solid start with a 7-5 season and Carquest Bowl win in 1994 and a 6-5 1996 season devolved into a two-year skid, capped with a 1-10 season in 1998 that prompted a house-cleaning by athletics director Mike McGee.

Burnham and Scott were booed incessantly throughout the 1997-1998 seasons as the Gamecocks were dragged up and down the Southeastern Conference. South Florida's game against the Gamecocks offer a chance for Burnham to get revenge in spades.

He's not that interested, though.

"We got run out of there, but it doesn't make me bitter," Burnham said. "We just didn't get the job done. It's like a normal thing to me, because I've been away for six years."

Burnham had been coaching in college and the United States Football League for 27 years when South Carolina showed him the door, and he took some time to re-evaluate. He asked himself if he wanted to continue coaching, and wondered if he still had the gift for it.

When South Florida coach Jim Leavitt called in February 2000, Burnham declined the invitation at first but then decided to visit the campus. After talking it over with his wife, Barbara, Burnham took over the Bulls' defensive ends the next month.

Since then, he's been promoted to co-defensive coordinator and is in charge of linebackers. South Florida's defense, helped by Burnham, finished the past two seasons ranked 17th in the country and is No. 1 this season, after one game.

"Wally is a great defensive coach, everybody knows that," Leavitt said. "We had the opportunity to bring Wally back to the state of Florida to coach again. We were real fortunate."

Burnham said he holds no ill will against the fans who booed him and made "some of the dearest friends I've ever had in my life" while he was at South Carolina. His son, Shane, who was a two-year USC starter at linebacker and heard quite a few hecklers himself, is an assistant coach at The Citadel and asks his dad for frequent advice.

Burnham also talks a few times a year with former boss Scott, who further enraged Gamecock fans when he took an assistant coaching position at Clemson.

"He's an excellent coach," said Scott, the Tigers' offensive line coach who sees Burnham often during recruiting trips. "Very intense, dots the I's and crosses the T's. It sounds like he's doing a doggone good job. It doesn't surprise me."

Burnham, who prefers to focus on the future, said he doesn't keep in touch with any of his former players at USC, except Phil Petty (now a graduate assistant on the Gamecocks' coaching staff) and Trey Pennington (a former tight end). Shane Burnham was good friends with both.

Burnham plans to be on board with the Bulls as they make the jump to the Big East next season, a huge step considering South Florida started football eight years ago.

"It's been fun, watching that happen," said Burnham of the Bulls' run. "I have not had a chance to even check my reactions, so busy in here trying to get a plan to win the football game. It might be when I walk out on the field and see 85,000 screaming Gamecock people.

"I remember the support we had at the beginning of our tenure there. It was a special time for me and my family. We really enjoyed our time in Columbia, and except for getting our butts run out of there, it was fun."

David Cloninger • 909-4218

dcloninger@heraldonline.com

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