Bio

Having been a part of more than 1,000 wins as an assistant coach for the Cowley College baseball team, Darren Burroughs will be recognized for his success by being inducted into the school ’s Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame on January 31, 2015.

Two years after his brother, Dave, became the head baseball coach at Cowley, Darren joined the team as its assistant coach in 1990. Along with serving as the team’s assistant coach, Darren also serves as the Tigers ’ pitching coach. The Tiger baseball team had registered nine losing seasons in a row prior to Dave Burroughs ’ hiring. After guiding Cowley to records of 15-20 and 29-20 in his first two seasons at the school, he asked his brother, Darren, to join him on the Tiger coaching staff.

“We had a long way to go as a baseball program when he came aboard,” Dave Burroughs said. “He helped elevate our program because of the players and pitchers he was able to bring in.”

Prior to his coaching days, Darren Burroughs graduated from Vinita High School in Vinita, Oklahoma, in 1978. There he was an all-state selection and played for the Oklahoma All-Star Team in what is now called the Sun Belt Classic. He went on to become a fifth-round draft choice out of high school and went on to play 10 years of professional baseball, including six years at the Triple A level. He participated in three major league spring trainings before entertaining the idea of coaching.

Darren was only four months removed from his final Major League Baseball Spring Training appearance when he applied to become the Tigers assistant baseball coach and manager of the Storbeck Dormitory. In the summer of 1991 Dave and Darren spent more than 80 nights on the road scouting and recruiting players to come play baseball for the Tigers. The endless hours on the road paid dividends as they hit on all but two of the players they were after. Following a 25-23 campaign during the 1991 season, Cowley went 36-16 and captured a share of the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division title in 1992.

“That next season in 1992 is when we flipped it and started to win on a consistent basis,” Dave Burroughs said.

With the brothers coaching together Cowley has never had a losing season. “We have done this side by side, we both had the same vision of wanting to be the best in the country,” Dave Burroughs said.

The Tigers have won 15 of the past 20 Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division titles, and made six trips to the NJCAA World Series in the past 18 seasons. Together, they have been a part of 1,022 wins while leading the Tigers. The pinnacle coming when they guided the Tigers to back-to-back national championships in 1997 and 1998.

“It still amazes me that 10 years from when Dave took the job we won a national championship,” Darren Burroughs said. “It was neat to be able to win it with really two different teams and so many different personalities.”

Darren credits the players for the team’s success through the years. “We have tried to get good players, teach them, and then let them develop,” Darren Burroughs said. “We try to take what a player does well and then make it better. The relationships you build with players are probably the most rewarding.”

He has helped players such as Travis Hafner, Junior Spivey, Rusty Ryal, and Trevor Rosenthal achieve their dreams of playing in the major leagues, while also helping other players maximize their potential.

“It is rewarding to see guys get everything they can out of their talent, and to get everything you can get out of your team,” Darren Burroughs said. “Our job is to get players to the next level, but like we tell the player’s baseball doesn’t owe you anything. If you can get an education out of it then it has paid you back.”

The opportunity to spend his entire coaching career at Cowley has been rewarding for Darren. “Cowley has been a really god fit for me, it has allowed me to coach,” Darren Burroughs said. “It ’s been far beyond my expectations. I am thankful Cowley gave me a chance. I am also thankful for the support of my wife, Carolyn. It takes a special person to be a coach’s wife.”

Dave Burroughs is looking forward to having his brother join him in the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame.

“He’s as deserving as anybody that has ever been through our program,” Dave Burroughs said. “He has no peers as a pitching coach at this level. Darren will join his brother and six of his former players in the Tiger Athletic Hall as well as numerous other Tiger greats.

“I am very honored and humbled,” Burroughs said. “To be included in that group of individuals is beyond my expectations. The joy and success I have had has been truly rewarding. It has been a fun ride.”