1-on-1 with Auburn Basketball OC Mike Burgomaster
The Observer sits down with "Burgo" to talk Xs and Os, scheduling, analytics and how he's "hungry to win a national championship" at Auburn.
AUBURN — When Steven Pearl was promoted to head coach after Bruce Pearl announced his retirement, Mike Burgomaster officially became the longest tenured assistant coach on the Auburn basketball staff.
The past decade has been quite the journey for Burgomaster, who is now entering his 10th season on the Plains. He arrived at Auburn in 2016 as a graduate assistant, fresh off his time as a student manager at Miami. “Burgo” later worked his way up to assistant director of basketball operations and a full-time coaching role.
Over the last two years, Burgomaster has been Auburn’s offensive coordinator — and something of a cult hero for diehard Tigers basketball fans. With Burgomaster as the primary play-caller, the Tigers finished in the top 10 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom in both seasons.
“I’m not letting him go,” Bruce Pearl said of Burgomaster last season. “He’s going to continue to have a dominant role on my staff.”
That will continue into a new era of Auburn basketball under Steven Pearl. Burgomaster remains in his post as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator, as he looks to engineer more elite play with a largely brand-new roster.
The Observer sat down for a 1-on-1 interview with Burgomaster before Auburn hit the road to Atlanta for Thursday night’s exhibition game against Memphis.
Here’s that full interview with Burgomaster, who talked about his offensive Xs and Os, how the Tigers will look different on the floor this season, what he learned the most about play-calling from Bruce Pearl, the art of non-conference scheduling and why he wants to stay at Auburn and win a national championship.
I’ve always wondered this: When did offense — play-calling, Xs and Os — become your thing? I know you started off as a manager at Miami and worked your way up. But when did offense become, “this is the thing that I’m good at, this is what I’m really interested in doing” for you?
I think, honestly, the first year where I took a heavier role with it was probably the first run to the Final Four in 2018-19, just as far as helping Coach (Bruce) Pearl with his suggestions and his preparation.
You know, became off a year in 2017-18 where we were really short staffed. And so while it was only my first year as a full-time staff member — and, honestly, it was only for half of the year — I just kind of demonstrated a lot of fire in a little bit of a baptism by fire in a lot of ways.
So, going into that next season, I had a lot more trust with Coach Pearl as far as helping him with that area. That was the first year where I took a heavier role with him, and then the 23-24 season is when I was officially labeled offensive coordinator.
I had just kept taking more of an increased role. In some previous roles I had before, I was in a spot where you can only coach the coaches, right? But being a full-time assistant, being able to be on the floor, that’s really where I was given a little bit more free rein as far as play-calling and offensive input.
I remember in that 2023-24 season, right before y’all got started, BP had talked about looking at EuroLeague film and stuff like that. The Zoom actions with Johni really stood out there.
What’s the most obscure place that you have pulled plays from?