Sean Burdette has been named as the next Memphis volleyball head coach. Burdette comes from Green Bay, where he spent four seasons as head coach and went 60-59.
Although Burdette said he was not looking for another job, he said leaving Green Bay was a hard decision, but everything fell into place.
“This being such a hub, it’s attractive,” Burdette said. “The vision of Tom Bowen and getting into some different facilities, the conference draw, the whole package was certainly a step up in the direction I wanted to go and where we can take the program.”
Burdette comes from the Horizon League. He said he is excited to be a part of the American Athletic Conference.
“Top to bottom, the conference is very, very competitive — very good,” Burdette said. “It’s a deep conference. The AAC is really sitting here to compete against the Power Five conferences. The vision for this program is to go out and work ourselves into a top- 25 program and compete for championships year in and year out.”
Burdette was familiar with Memphis’ program because his team had played Memphis in its first tournament last season. He said he knew some of the players and “what they were all about.”
“Getting into the gym is the exciting part — the renewed energy, the enthusiasm,” Burdette said. “The players are like sponges. They are wanting to learn. They are taking stuff in. We don’t have a lot of time on the court with them this time of the year, but they are getting everything they can out of it, which is awesome.”
The team has started practicing in the Finch Center, which is transitioning into the full-time volleyball facility for practice.
Burdette has begun recruiting and said players are familiar with the university.
“The prestige of the university — knowing that we can recruit not only great local athletes but regionally, nationally but also internationally,,” Burdette said. “People recognize the name. People are excited about it, and they want to know more.”
The Silver Spring, Maryland, native started playing volleyball on the east coast in junior high and high school and played club volleyball through Ohio State University.
He said the transition from playing to coaching was “natural.” After one season as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State, he got a full-time assistant position.
Burdette had assistant coaching positions at the University of Pittsburgh, Townson University and Ohio State University from 1997 to 2007 before getting his first head coach position at Bradley University from 2008 to 2010.
Burdette is no stranger to the Mid-south. From 2011 to 2013, he was an assistant coach at Ole Miss. He helped recruit two top-100 players in the nation in his final season with the Rebels.
At Green Bay, Burdette went to a team that had three coaches in three seasons. Green Bay went 5-21 in 2015, his first season as head coach. The following seasons, Green Bay won 17, 21 and 17 games, respectively.
His last two seasons, Green Bay went to the Horizon League championship match. Last season, his team was invited to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Green Bay’s volleyball program had only seen one other postseason appearance in program history, which was in 2003. Last season, Burdette’s team advanced to the Elite 8, where they fell to Texas Christian University.
Burdette follows April Jauregui, who resigned at the end of last season. Jauregui was head coach for 10 years and won 165 games as the Tigers’ head coach. Jauregui played for Memphis from 1997 to 2000 and was an assistant 2005-07 before being named head coach.
“April had done a great job, and she’s very invested. At the end of the day, she wants to see the program succeed,” Burdette said. “She reached out when I got to town. We had known each other previously. More than anything, she’s a Tiger, and she wants to see (the program) be as good as it can be.”
Burdette, his wife and his three daughters are excited to move back to the Mid-south.
“The hospitality of the South is great, and sometimes you don’t get that other places,” Burdette said. “How many Tiger faans there are out there, that’s what’s really amazing … seeing how much people are invested in the university.”
