Bill Burgess

Before Bill Burgess was the Head Coach at Jacksonville State University, he was an Oxford Yellow Jacket. Burgess, who lettered in football at Auburn, began a 14-year tenure in 1971 as head football coach at Oxford High School. His Oxford teams earned  107 wins and only 41 losses. 8 times, his teams reached the state playoffs.

Burgess became the head football coach at Jacksonville State University in 1985, a position he held through the 1996 season. In 12 seasons, his career record at Jacksonville State was 84 wins, 49 losses, and 4 ties. The 1992 Gamecocks were Division 2 national champions. Burgess won four Gulf South Conference crowns and five straight invitations to the Division 2 playoffs. Jacksonville State advanced to the Division 2 title game in three of those five seasons.

Burgess was a three-time Gulf South Conference coach-of-the-year selection and was named the 1992 N.C.A.A. Division 2 national coach-of-the-year.

With Burgess at the helm, Jacksonville State won the Gulf South Conference in 1988 with a 7-1 record. The Gamecocks won the 1989 GSC title with a perfect 8-0 record and finished as NCAA runner-up. Jax State then finished 6-0 in 1991 and 5-0-1 in 1992 to win back-to-back GSC titles, capped with the 1992 national championship in JSU’s final game as a Division II member. Burgess coached the Gamecocks from 1985 until 1996.

He was inducted into the Jacksonville State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

written by Joe Estep