Miles Burton ‘excited’ to build up Hillsboro Indians boys varsity basketball program
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — Last season when the Hillsboro Indians hosted the Goshen Warriors in a non-conference boys varsity basketball game, the community support and game day atmosphere caught the attention of then-Goshen assistant varsity coach Miles Burton.
Fast-forward a handful of months later, former Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles resigned from the varsity program, and Burton — who is a 2011 Blanchester High School graduate — was officially hired Monday as the new head coach of the Indians. That night against Goshen really stuck with Burton when he decided to apply for the vacant coaching position.
“I’m a motivator. I coach an exciting brand of basketball. I’m excited to be at Hillsboro with their community support,” Burton said of becoming the Indians’ head coach. “When I came here last year at Goshen, at the time I commented on how great the community support is. I’m looking forward to coming in and meeting more of the guys and just getting involved with the community and compete for league championships and sectional championships.”
For the past eight seasons, Burton — who is the 32nd head coach in HHS history — has coached in both Louisville, Ky. at Kentucky Country Day School (seven seasons) and this past season for the aforementioned Goshen Warriors. Even though Burton is under 30 years old and a varsity head coach, he has years of experience and has had a couple excellent mentors to learn from the past eight seasons since joining the coaching ranks as an assistant.
“I graduated from Blanchester in 2011. I went to Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. I started coaching right away,” Burton said. “I applied for a junior high job when I went down for college. I interviewed, and they said I could have the junior high job but they also offered the assistant varsity instead, so I went that route. That’s been my history ever since. I’ve been coaching since I was 17 years old.”
While in high school, Burton played basketball under “legendary coach Mark Short,” he said, as a forward and part of a league championship team. He spoke about growing up with both his father and Short as his inspiration to pursue coaching.
“My dad was a coach at Blanchester back in the day, so I was always around that. I kind of always had it in me a little bit,” Burton said. “I had a great mentor in Coach Short.”
Burton continued to speak about his father — Rick Burton, who is also a former superintendent of Blanchester Local Schools — and his high school coach, Short.
“I think Mark Short is the only coach to win statewide coach of the year for girls and boys. He’s gone out of his way to be supportive of me all the way from when I was playing to the past eight years of me coaching,” Burton said. “And also my dad. I think a lot of coaching is in my blood, and I’ve learned a lot from him.
“I learned a lot from Coach Brandon Baker last year at Goshen. Without him, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity. Goshen was great, even though I was only there for a year. They adopted me, and it made a smooth transition back to Ohio basketball.”
The 2008-09 season marks the last time the Indians boys basketball program has qualified for the district round of the postseason tournament, as that season they were 15-8 and finished as district runners-up.
The Indians last won a conference championship during the 2011-12 season, where they won a second consecutive South Central Ohio League title. (The league is now defunct.) That season was also the last winning record for the Indians, as they were 15-6 overall.
This past season, the Indians advanced the sectional finals, as they finished with 10 overall victories. The Indians won one postseason tournament game, that coming against the Miami Trace Panthers in the sectional semifinals, before losing to the Zane Trace Pioneers in the sectional finals.
The Indians’ new head coach knows work lies ahead as he tries to make the Indians a winning program once again, and it will start Burton’s first season as a head coach, which is exciting for him.
“We’re going to be defensively sound this first year. We’re going to run in transition. We’re going to play a fun offensive style of basketball and an exciting style of basketball,” Burton said. “I want to get involved with the community. Hillsboro is a special place. They want badly to support a successful basketball program. I’m looking forward to that journey.
“I’m going to take a hands-on approach, starting with the youth program all the way up, putting in youth programs, standardization at every level and playing Indian basketball all the way up. I want to take the time at all levels of the program to be involved and be visible. And we’re close. I mean, Coach Miles did a good job. I’m definitely not taking over a bare cabinet. There’s talent in the program, and I’m excited to watch them grow.”
Burton said he can’t stress enough how excited he is to start working on the basketball program for the community.
“I’d really like to stress how much I’m excited, and I know I’ve said this a hundred times, to be involved in the community – not just with basketball, but everything,” he said. “I know how badly Hillsboro wants to win. Nobody’s going to work harder than I am to make that happen. I’m working to put together a solid staff and start working on summer camps.”
Burton is in talks to possibly work for Hillsboro City Schools, but not in the position as a teacher.
(Note: Highland County Press managing editor Caitlin Forsha contributed to this article.)
Fast-forward a handful of months later, former Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles resigned from the varsity program, and Burton — who is a 2011 Blanchester High School graduate — was officially hired Monday as the new head coach of the Indians. That night against Goshen really stuck with Burton when he decided to apply for the vacant coaching position.
“I’m a motivator. I coach an exciting brand of basketball. I’m excited to be at Hillsboro with their community support,” Burton said of becoming the Indians’ head coach. “When I came here last year at Goshen, at the time I commented on how great the community support is. I’m looking forward to coming in and meeting more of the guys and just getting involved with the community and compete for league championships and sectional championships.”
For the past eight seasons, Burton — who is the 32nd head coach in HHS history — has coached in both Louisville, Ky. at Kentucky Country Day School (seven seasons) and this past season for the aforementioned Goshen Warriors. Even though Burton is under 30 years old and a varsity head coach, he has years of experience and has had a couple excellent mentors to learn from the past eight seasons since joining the coaching ranks as an assistant.
“I graduated from Blanchester in 2011. I went to Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. I started coaching right away,” Burton said. “I applied for a junior high job when I went down for college. I interviewed, and they said I could have the junior high job but they also offered the assistant varsity instead, so I went that route. That’s been my history ever since. I’ve been coaching since I was 17 years old.”
While in high school, Burton played basketball under “legendary coach Mark Short,” he said, as a forward and part of a league championship team. He spoke about growing up with both his father and Short as his inspiration to pursue coaching.
“My dad was a coach at Blanchester back in the day, so I was always around that. I kind of always had it in me a little bit,” Burton said. “I had a great mentor in Coach Short.”
Burton continued to speak about his father — Rick Burton, who is also a former superintendent of Blanchester Local Schools — and his high school coach, Short.
“I think Mark Short is the only coach to win statewide coach of the year for girls and boys. He’s gone out of his way to be supportive of me all the way from when I was playing to the past eight years of me coaching,” Burton said. “And also my dad. I think a lot of coaching is in my blood, and I’ve learned a lot from him.
“I learned a lot from Coach Brandon Baker last year at Goshen. Without him, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity. Goshen was great, even though I was only there for a year. They adopted me, and it made a smooth transition back to Ohio basketball.”
The 2008-09 season marks the last time the Indians boys basketball program has qualified for the district round of the postseason tournament, as that season they were 15-8 and finished as district runners-up.
The Indians last won a conference championship during the 2011-12 season, where they won a second consecutive South Central Ohio League title. (The league is now defunct.) That season was also the last winning record for the Indians, as they were 15-6 overall.
This past season, the Indians advanced the sectional finals, as they finished with 10 overall victories. The Indians won one postseason tournament game, that coming against the Miami Trace Panthers in the sectional semifinals, before losing to the Zane Trace Pioneers in the sectional finals.
The Indians’ new head coach knows work lies ahead as he tries to make the Indians a winning program once again, and it will start Burton’s first season as a head coach, which is exciting for him.
“We’re going to be defensively sound this first year. We’re going to run in transition. We’re going to play a fun offensive style of basketball and an exciting style of basketball,” Burton said. “I want to get involved with the community. Hillsboro is a special place. They want badly to support a successful basketball program. I’m looking forward to that journey.
“I’m going to take a hands-on approach, starting with the youth program all the way up, putting in youth programs, standardization at every level and playing Indian basketball all the way up. I want to take the time at all levels of the program to be involved and be visible. And we’re close. I mean, Coach Miles did a good job. I’m definitely not taking over a bare cabinet. There’s talent in the program, and I’m excited to watch them grow.”
Burton said he can’t stress enough how excited he is to start working on the basketball program for the community.
“I’d really like to stress how much I’m excited, and I know I’ve said this a hundred times, to be involved in the community – not just with basketball, but everything,” he said. “I know how badly Hillsboro wants to win. Nobody’s going to work harder than I am to make that happen. I’m working to put together a solid staff and start working on summer camps.”
Burton is in talks to possibly work for Hillsboro City Schools, but not in the position as a teacher.
(Note: Highland County Press managing editor Caitlin Forsha contributed to this article.)