Eugene Burroughs

Philadelphia native Eugene Burroughs joined the Nittany Lion coaching staff in June of 2011. He brings more than 15 years of collegiate coaching experience to his role as associate head coach as well as a long relationship with Head Coach Patrick Chambers dating to high school.

As associate head coach, Burroughs oversees the day-to-day operation of the program; organizes and runs staff meetings involving the coordination of staff operations, recruiting and officials visits; makes regular radio show appearances; works with posts and guards, and has offensive and defensive coordination responsibilities in daily practice. Following his first season at Penn State, Burroughs was invited to attend the 2012 NCAA and BCA Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) Program.

Burroughs previously served on the coaching staff at Navy during Billy Lange[apos]s entire seven-year tenure from 2004-11, starting as an assistant before being elevated to associate head coach for the 2010-11 season. Like Chambers, Burroughs has strong ties to Villanova coach Jay Wright, having served as an assistant to him at Hofstra for three seasons from 1997-2000, and to Philadelphia coaching legend Dan Dougherty, having played with Chambers at Episcopal Academy. Burroughs also previously served as an assistant coach at Marist College and American University.

[quote]I have known coach Burroughs for over 20 years,[quote] Chambers said. [quote]He has experience, knowledge and great passion for the game. Being a former player, he is be able to relate to the players and the challenges they endure on and off the court.[quote]

As Associate Head Coach for Player Development at Navy, Burroughs created Navy[apos]s in-season player improvement plan; organized and led pre- and post-practice workouts; directed all shooting workouts; assigned coaching, practice and recruiting duties to the staff; formulated summer workout plans for players, and was the liaison with the team[apos]s strength and conditioning coach and trainer.

Burroughs worked with the guards at Navy and was credited with helping to develop All-Patriot League picks such as Greg Sprink, Kaleo Kina and Chris Harris. Burroughs developed a reputation as an outstanding recruiter landing a large number of the top players during the Lange era at Navy, including signing 2011 Patriot League Rookie-of-the-Year J.J. Avila and former Patriot League All-Rookie team member Trey Stanton along with multi-year starters O.J. Avworo and Romeo Garcia.

Burroughs spent four seasons (2000-04) as an assistant coach at Marist, playing a role in nearly every aspect of the day-to-day operation of the team and helping the Red Foxes to a 19-9 record in 2001-02.

Prior to joining the Marist staff, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Hofstra (1997-2000), where he coordinated the individual instruction program for each player, as well has handled team travel and game day operations. During the 1999-2000 season, Burroughs helped lead the Flying Dutchmen to a 24-7 overall mark (16-2 in the America East Conference) and capture the America East Tournament title to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Burroughs began his coaching career with a one-year stint (1996-97) at American University.

A 1994 graduate of the University of Richmond with a degree in speech communication, Burroughs played for Dick Tarrant and served as team captain as a senior. He garnered Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Defensive honors as a junior and was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team in 1991. As a co-captain during the 1993-94 campaign, he started in 25 games, leading the Spiders in minutes played (31.1) and assists (4.0), while averaging 8.4 points per game. He dished out 105 assists as a senior, which stands 10th on Richmond[apos]s season assists leader board. Burroughs left the program ranking sixth all-time in steals (127) and assists (316) in Spider history.

Burroughs and his wife, Trish, reside in State College.