Burris leaving Lamar after 2 years to become football head coach at Westwood
Burris, Silver Foxes had success on the field while watching his wife lose battle with cancer
Lamar – Stephen Burris was the football head coach at Lamar High School for only two seasons, but a lot of life filled with both tremendous highs and tremendous lows – sometimes occurring at basically the same time – were packed into that time frame.
Burris is leaving the Class A powerhouse to become the new coach at AAAAA Westwood. He believes he and his coaching staff not only did a good job in making the Silver Foxes better football players, but better men.
“It really feels like we got the program to the point where discipline and mental toughness of the players had grown,” Burris said. “And that’s not to say the coaches who preceded me did a bad job, I just think we were able to improve the mental capacity of our players.
“I think we did a great job in helping these young men become better people. I feel like we’ve helped them create relationships that will last a lifetime. This was for the betterment of the program and not just what you see on the scoreboard. Winning is always the goal, especially at Lamar. But I think we’ve created winners in the game of life.”
The student-athletes saw Burris and his staff deal with difficult life situations while doing their jobs both seasons. Burris spent this season coaching and teaching while his wife, Kimberly, was fighting what would ultimately be a losing battle with cancer. In Burris’ first season, one of his assistants, Hayden Wilks, lost his wife.
The Silver Foxes went 9-4 this past season, finishing second to Lewisville in Region 2. They reached the quarterfinals of the state playoffs, losing to eventual state champion and perennial power Abbeville on the road in an epic battle by a 48-38 count. Kimberly passed away at the age of 39 just a few days after the contest.
Burris missed the practices leading up to the game to spend time with Kimberly and their two daughters, 6-year-old Summyr and 4-year-old Nylah. He was on the sideline for the game.
“When we got off the bus it felt different that night,” Burris said. “There was a calmness that we would play well. play hard and give it everything we’ve got. There are no moral victories, but we emptied everything we had.”
Burris said Lamar will always be special to him because Kimberly persuaded him to pursue what would be his first head job despite living an hour away in Columbia.
“Coaches’ wives are special people,” said Burris, who was also 9-4 in his first season and led the Silver Foxes to a region title. ”Kimberly is probably the reason I got to Lamar. She told me to go for it even though we lived an hour away and had two young kids. She took the load on full force and never hesitated. Her being strong and never once asked why, allowing me to focus on football, I can never repay her for that.”
Burris getting the job at Westwood is a bit ironic. That is where Kimberly taught.
“We were married for 12 years,” he said. “She was a special woman, and the girls have a huge piece of her in them..”
