It's No Secret, Running Backs Coach Burton Burns a Key to Alabama's Success

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a Thanksgiving meal that can’t be beat, but it was also the moment that University of Alabama Crimson Tide running back Kenyan Drake saw his position coach in a new light.

With the Iron Bowl always played two days after the holiday, Alabama’s tradition is make sure that every player has a place to relax and feast. Nick Saban and his wife Terry always host a large group (“catered,” he’s admitted), but Burton Burns and his wife Connie have been known to put on the quite the spread.

“Oh yeah,” Drake said. 

“He’s a rough-and-tough dude on the field, but off the field, I don’t know if he’d want me to say this, he’s a nice guy. He has a soft side.”

Actually, that secret has long been out about Burns, who when away from the Crimson Tide’s football complex has a contagious smile and proudly claims his Bayou heritage. Football may be what he does with his life, but Louisiana, from its outstanding cuisine to its rich flavorful influences, is the essence of it.

Although Alabama’s season-opening 35-17 victory against the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers last Saturday was impressive on many levels, with the defense yielding just 40 rushing yards and quarterback Jake Coker making a successful first start, what stood out the most was the impressive running game.

Derrick Henry, who now looks like a complete running back, had 147 rushing yards on just 13 carries and three touchdowns to win numerous player of the week awards, including from the Alabama coaches, Southeastern Conference, Football Writers Association of America and Maxwell Award.

Additionally, in his first game back from a broken leg, Drake made a highlight-reel spin move en route to scoring a 43-yard touchdown, and the two running backs combined for 312 all-purpose yards.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

While a lot of the postgame praise went to them and their blockers, it obviously reflected well on Burns, whose success stories are now becoming too long to list. They include Jerald Sowell at Tulane and James Davis and C.J. Spiller at Clemson, and even in Burns' first year at Alabama, tailback Terry Grant set school records for rushing yards (891) and touchdowns (8) by a freshman.

Since then the Crimson Tide’s boasted Glen Coffee, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy, T.J Yeldon and now Henry and Drake, yet Burns hasn’t gotten anywhere near the credit he deserves.

“He’s helped me a lot since my freshman year,” Henry said.

“Coach Burns does a really, really good job with our players,” said Saban, who doesn't let his assistant coaches talk to reporters except at bowl games. “I think they respond well to him, and he’s got a great personality. He’s well-liked on the staff, he’s well-liked in recruiting by a lot of people.”

That’s where the Louisiana part comes in. Hailing from a football family, Burns’ father was a coach at the junior high and high school level in New Orleans, and his brother Ronnie was just the Sugar Bowl’s second black president in the organization’s history, the first being their uncle Leonard (1994).

After his collegiate career as a Nebraska Cornhuskers fullback came to a close, Burns’ coaching career began in 1977 as an assistant coach for his alma mater, St. Augustine High School.

In a 2008 article for the TimesDaily, I spoke to Burns about his career to that point and his strong family ties:

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He led Booker T. Washington, to which his father's junior high program used to feed talent, to its 1980 district title, and returned to do the same for St. Augustine in 1987, 1992 and 1993. Among the future NFL players he coached there were Louis Age, Tyrone Hughes, Sean Jackson and David White.

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Stints at nearby Southern (1981-85) and Tulane (1994-99) preceded his eight seasons under Tommy Bowden at Clemson, which was the furthest away he had worked from his family, including a sister and three brothers, the closest of which is Ronnie.

"There's nothing that we don't do that we don't consult each other," Burton Burns said. "I think that started with my dad and uncle Lenny. That's the way the family was. If you needed some support, or you had a problem, we had something good happen, the first thought it one of our minds was to talk to one of our family members.

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"We kind of grew up together."

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Knowing just how tough it would be to knock down some of the recruiting walls he had helped establish for the LSU Tigers, Saban targeted Burns for his coaching staff when he took over the Crimson Tide in January 2007. He had tried to hire him before, but this time the timing was right.

One of the first calls Burns made was to Ronnie, who echoed his thoughts that it was a good opportunity with the added advantage of being closer to home, his roots and his family. New Orleans was only a four-to-five-hour drive from Tuscaloosa, whereas Clemson, South Carolina, was at least nine hours, even if the traffic around Atlanta cooperated.

It also brought him closer to those who influenced him the most while growing up and people who had known his father.

“Even when he was coaching junior high and high school, he would always bring us out there, we were the water boys and all that kind of stuff,” Burns said in that 2008 interview. “But what really got my attention when I started getting into coaching was that my dad must have been good with those players because 10 years later, 15 years later, guys were still ringing his doorbell to talk to him and get some advice from him. That made a big impression on me as far as what kind of relationship I wanted to have with my players.”

It took a little while, but Alabama established more than a recruiting foothold in the talent-rich state. Landing players like Lacy and safety Landon Collins didn’t just pay off immediately but had a long-term impact as well.

Alabama’s active roster now includes Louisiana products Daylon Charlot, Raheem Falkins, Denzel Devall, Hootie Jones, Cam Sims, O.J. Smith, Tim Williams, Bradley Sylve and, of course, Cam Robinson—all plucked from LSU’s backyard.

The Crimson Tide might have missed out on running back Leonard Fournette, but when he wanted to “do something different” by staying close to home, it spoke volumes about Alabama’s success there.

Burns has also had a hand in landing Texas prospects like Tony Brown and Deionte Thompson and running backs like Henry, Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris.

“Guys carrying the ball have something to do with it too,” Saban said about Alabama’s success at running back, which can’t be denied.

But Burns is the only running back coach in the nation to have a Heisman Trophy winner during this past decade, he helped Alabama win its first Doak Walker Award for best running back and at least three of his former running backs are expected to start in the NFL this weekend (Ingram, Lacy and Yeldon).

“If you recruit good players, it’s the same effect with coaches,” Burns said before Alabama beat LSU at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to win the 2011 national title. “You have to have the right personalities, you have to have a blend of players, you have to have a blend of personalities with coaches. (Saban) does a great job and has a good sense of what it takes to be successful.”

He’s obviously not the only one.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.