It’s been almost a year since Travis Burkett was named head coach of the COS football team and he is very eager to finally see the team in action.

Coach Burkett has been coaching football for over 17 years and has spent the last 3 years coaching at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was hired on March 29, 2020, amidst the start of the COVID pandemic with the school and sports shutting down.

When asked about his preparation for the new season, Coach Burkett said, “Preparing for this season has been different in every way. Most importantly, having to pivot from a schedule standpoint in all areas of the program at all times, has been extremely new.” This being especially difficult for the new coach trying to settle in and getting to know assistant coaches and the team itself. He added, “Our players have done a tremendous job of staying flexible and nimble and have worked extremely hard to improve every day.”

Just like with online schooling, Burkett took to Zoom to get information from him and the staff to the players. Burkett said “We have done dozens of zoom meetings over the past 11 months and they have been very effective. Zoom is a powerful teaching tool and most importantly it’s a great way to connect with people under pandemic conditions.” The team would separate into different calls based on offense and defense, and sometimes even by position, for the players to get info and gameplan that catered towards them.

Preparation hasn’t been only online however, Burkett added “We are thrilled that over the last 6 months we have been in-person close to 70 times and are in the midst of the spring football season.”

Burkett’s goals are to better the football players both on and off the field, “We are looking forward to having the opportunity to develop champions through our program and create an atmosphere where the football players have a championship mindset towards every action they make as a person-student-athlete.” His main focus being on the field where he intends to “win against every opponent and our job as coaches is to facilitate the positive growth of the players on a daily basis to a level that they have the ability to dominate the other team on a play-by-play basis.”

Head Coach Travis Burkett and the COS Football Team play their first game on April 1st against Antelope Valley College at Antelope Valley.