Sam Burroughs
Assistant Coach / Head Cross Country Coach
Phone: 325-674-4820
Email:
sam.burroughs@acu.edu
Sam Burroughs is in his second season as the Wildcats’ head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for distance runners.
Last fall he led the ACU men’s cross country team to its 18th straight Lone Star Conference championship, its eighth NCAA Division II South Central Region championship in the last nine years and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division II championship meet.
Burroughs was also named the NCAA Division II South Central Region Men’s Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association. He was also voted LSC Men's Coach of the Year.
During the year, he coach four cross country, three indoor track and field and five outdoor track and field NCAA Division II all-America athletes. He also coached Amos Sang to the 10,000 meter championship at the Penn Relays during the outdoor season.
Before joining the ACU staff, Burroughs was the assistant cross country coach and an assistant track and field coach at Iona College (N.Y.) for three seasons.
Burroughs helped lead the Gaels to unprecedented success from 2005-08 as he was part of a program that posted three straight top-four finishes at the NCAA Division I national cross country championship meet. The Gaels were fourth in 2005, third in 2006 and second in 2007. They finished as the runner-up to No. 1-ranked Oregon at the 2007 men’s cross country championship with 113 points to Oregon’s 85 points.
While at Iona, Burroughs helped coach the Gaels to three straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) titles to extend the program’s conference championship streak to 17 years. He also helped the women’s program to its third straight MAAC title.
In track and field, Burroughs coached 13 individual qualifiers for the NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor track and field championships, including three in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters at the 2008 outdoor championship meet. He coached 13 all-America athletes at Iona and saw 31 male athletes and 25 female athletes claim individual MAAC championships.
Prior to joining the coaching staff at Iona, Burroughs served as the men’s and women’s distance coach at Manhattan College. During his time at Manhattan, Burroughs led both squads to multiple MAAC track and field conference championship titles.
Burroughs, who earned his B.S. in exercise physiology in 2000 from the University of Buffalo in 2000, competed as a top member of the school’s distance teams. Burroughs remained at Buffalo for graduate work, earning his Master of Science in human performance in 2002.
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