CORBIN — Corbin High School has turned to a proven winner to continue the boys’ basketball program’s success it has had under former coach Tony Pietrowski.
Kevin Burton has been named the Redhounds’ new boys basketball coach.
Burton built Union Commonwealth University’s men’s basketball program into an NAIA national powerhouse during his tenure as head coach.
During his 11 years at Union, Burton compiled a 281-81 record while leading the Bulldogs to the 2017 NAIA Division II Men’s National Championship while posting a 35-3 mark. Burton was also was named as the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year and the Hoopdirt.com NAIA Coach of the Year for 2016-17.
From 2013 to 2020, Burton’s squads won at least 20 games a season, including two 30-plus win seasons.
”My excitement level is really high,” Burton said. “I understand the rich history and respectful of that. We are going to have extraordinarily high expectations. The highest you can have. It should be a very entertaining and exciting time. I think I have 17 colleges coming to evaluate our players when we work out this fall. That number will grow. So if we have players that have aspirations at the collegiate level, from D1 to DIII, and everything in between we will have colleges here.
“We should have a very aggressive approach both offensively and defensively,” he added. “The play and scheme will develop based on who is with us at the time. There will be some fundamental things that we will carry from what my teams have done in the past that will translate to the high school game. We want to be the punchers, not the counterpunchers.”
Burton also posted an 80-40 mark during his coaching tenure at St. Catherine, and a 137-76 mark at Lambuth University.
Burton takes over for long-time coach Tony Pietrowski, who spent 25 years as the Redhounds coach and stepped down to become Corbin’s girls’ basketball coach.
Burton’s son, Grayson, will be a junior next season, and regarded as one of the state’s top players after 18.3 points per game last season at Madison Central, and 5.2 rebounds per game. Burton also led the Indians with 81 made 3-pointers and a 41.8 shooting percentage from behind the mark.
