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Coach Burroughs Bio
// QUICK HITS ON COACH BURROUGHS
• Entering his 19th year as a collegiate coach (2018-19 academic year)
• Has guided the UC men’s cross country team to three Top 3 finishes in five years of American Athletic Conference competition, including third place in 2016 and runners-up in both 2013 and 2014
• Prior to Cincinnati, Burroughs has held coaching positions at North Texas, Abilene Christian, Iona, Manhattan and Boston University
• Has worked with 18 all-conference honorees in track & field and cross country during his tenure at Cincinnati, most recently Aaron Bienenfeld, who earned three accolades in 2018 while adding an individual conference title (outdoor 10,000m run)
• Has earned three coach of the year honors, including the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Women’s XC and the 2008 and 2009 Lone Star Conference Men’s XC honors, as well as being tabbed the 2008 USTFCCCA South Central Region Coach of the Year (men)
• Helped lead Iona a trio of trophy finishes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including fourth (2005), third (2006) and national runners-up (2007) while also seeing the women to three-consecutive MAAC Championships during his three years with the Gaels
• In 2010, guided Amos Sang to a pair of national titles at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships as the Wildcat from Abilene Christian swept the 5,000m and 10,000m titles
// COACH BURROUGHS
The 2018-19 academic year will mark the 19th in the coaching career of Sam Burroughs and his sixth working with the University of Cincinnati distance corps as the long time coach will continue to serve as the Associate Head Coach of the Bearcats men’s cross country program while also mentoring the distance group as an assistant coach on the track. Heading into the new year, Burroughs will look to build upon the individual success his charges enjoyed in 2018, a season that included Aaron Bienenfeld winning the program’s first 10,000m championship on the track and several rookies scoring points in the AAC.
Most recently, Burrough’s men had an outstanding AAC Outdoor Championships meet as the group scored 26 points, the most they have produced since 2015, as Bienenfeld accounted for 18 points with his win in the 10,000m and runner-up finish in the 5,000m while two true freshmen, Ryan Guenther (10,000m) and Matt Stump (1,500m), also scored in the meet. Bienenfeld’s finishes also gave Burrough’s group two all-conference awards (Top 3 finishes) for the first time since 2015 when his Bearcats 1-2 in the steeplechase.
On the indoor oval, the January arrival of Bienenfeld signaled big things to come as the German broke the school record in the 5,000m run (14:13.82), a mark that had stood since 2011 when All-American Eric Finan ran 14:17.07, and posted times that rank in the program’s all-time Top 10, including the 3,000m (#3 at 8:16.12) and the mile (#9 at 4:10.82). Once the conference meet rolled around, Burrough’s men scored 20 points, nearly double its highest output in the AAC era (12 in 2015), as Bienenfeld finished as the runner-up at 5,000m and fourth in the 3,000m while Michael Vitucci (sixth) and the DMR (sixth) each added three points and Logan Baker one (eighth) in the 800m.
Burrough’s harriers battled to the finish in the fall despite injuries hampering the team. Despite the set backs, Burroughs brought along several freshmen, including Guenthner, who was the team’s top finisher in his AAC debut on a hilly course in Philadelphia as the team placed ninth overall. The team, who would also place 21st in the NCAA Great Lakes Region to close the campaign, also found success in the classroom as the team carried the highest GPA of any AAC squad and was named the 2017-18 AAC Academic Excellence Award winner for men’s cross country. UC also was honored as a USTFCCCA All-Academic team.
During the 2016-17 seasons, the men showed improvements over the previous season as the Bearcats returned to the Top 3 in the conference standings by finishing third at the AAC meet while also returning to the Top 20 in the region after placing 17th overall. To make those gains, the men saw improved times and closer spreads in the standings while also seeing the emergence of Dan Huben, who earned his first all-conference honor on the track in 2016 after placing third in the steeplechase, and continued to make improvements as he placed 13th overall at the cross country championships, joining Toby Loveridge (seventh) in the Top 15 to garner all-conference accolades. Those finishes marked the second time under Burroughs that two (or more) men had finished in the Top 15 on the conference level with the first coming in 2013 when Evan Baum (sixth), Kevin Fink (13th) and Oliver Brook (14th) each earned the accolade. Fink also earned the accolade in 2014 after placing fifth overall – the highest finish for UC runner at the American Championships – while Loveridge garnered his first honor in 2015 by also placing seventh.
Following the cross country season, the men hit the track and were led by Vitucci, who finished as the conference runner-up in the 800m run at both AAC meets. In fact, Vitucci entered the indoor meet ranked outside of the Top 10 in conference, but ran his race to first advance to the final and then take second overall as he lowered his personal best by nearly one second. He also anchored the DMR team of Nick Grismer, Ryan Greene and Jarrod Hart to a seventh-place showing in the relay at the indoor meet.
Outdoors, Vitucci earned his runner-up showing by running 1:50.38, which ranks as the eighth-fastest in program history. He was one of four men that scored in the Top 8 at the conference meet with Anthony Car taking fifth place in the 10,000m run after the senior placed fifth in the 1,500m run three years prior as a freshman. Huben scored in the 3,000m steeplechase for the third year in a row (fourth) and Grismer was seventh in the 5,000m run. Earlier in the season, Huben ran 9:00.61 in the steeplechase at the Penn Relays to record the sixth-best time in program history and the fastest time recorded in the past 10 years.
Burroughs’ athletes have accounted for 40 marks that rank in the Bearcats’ all-time Top 10 individual times and nine more on the relay charts. Included in that total are four school records as well. In 2018, his men added their names to the ledgers five times with Bienenfeld adding the fourth school record with his run in the indoor 5,000m race.
Several men also fared well on the conference level in 2016, including Huben, who raced to a third-place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase to earn all-conference accolades and six team points. A pair of his teammates, Fink and Greg Sanders, both scored in the Top 8 in the 10,000m run at the American Championships, placing fifth and eighth, respectively. Several other runners also made the finals in their respective distance events, just missing out on Top 8 placements. Burroughs, who previously also oversaw the women’s program, designed the training programs that lead to two women’s school records in 2015, including the indoor 1,000m run and the outdoor 4x1,500m relay, and two more in 2016, which included the distance medley relay and a resetting of the 4x1500m relay.
Academically, Burroughs has seen several accolades roll in during his time at UC. On a team level, the men’s cross country team was selected as the 2016-17 & 2017-18 AAC Team Academic Excellence Award, which is given annually to the team that holds the highest GPA among all conference squads. On a national level, the women earned a perfect 1,000 in the NCAA APR Multi-Year ratings for the 2015-16 academic year, one of four UC teams to hold that distinction.
Burroughs came to UC after a three-year stint at North Texas. During his time with the Mean Green, he saw a complete transformation of their distance programs, both in competition and academically. On the men’s side, Burroughs worked with Patrick Strong (2010) and Troy Taylor (2012), both of whom earned all-conference accolades with Taylor also being tabbed as the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Freshman Athlete of the Meet while helping the men to a runner-up finish as a team in cross country. And, just as Burroughs’ teams have done at UC, his Mean Green men also were highly successful in the classroom. For the 2010-11 academic year, UNT scored a perfect 1000 in the NCAA’s APR measurement.
On the women’s side, Burroughs saw three of his athletes earn five all-conference honors, including two-time honorees Sara Dietz (2010-11) and Ingrid Mollenkopf (2010-11) and one-time recipient Jo Adams (2012). As a team, the women finished as conference runners-up in 2011 with Burroughs being named the SBC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. Following the conference season, both Dietz (2011) and Adams (2012) ran to NCAA All-Region accolades following their performances.
The success was not limited to cross country, however, as his athletes also were highly successful on the track. At the conference level, Burroughs brought Dietz and Adams to new heights as both women were dominant on the indoor oval at the Sun Belt Conference meets with both winning three titles each in a single meet. Both women won gold in the 800m, Mile and 3,000m runs in the same meet with Dietz recording the triple in 2012 and Adams equaling the feat at the 2013 meet. Also in 2013, Burroughs’ swept the rookie awards as Christina Taylor earned the SBC Indoor Freshman Athlete of the Meet before Charlotte Wilson earned the same award at the outdoor meet.
The success in cross county spilled onto the track for North Texas. Burroughs coached multiple athletes to a number of school records: Dietz broke a 31 year old record in the indoor 800m and 3000m, Mollenkopf rewrote her own school record in the 10,000m, Adams broke Dietz’s 3000m and took down two 1980 records in the indoor mile & outdoor 1500m, Charlotte Wilson chopped 30 seconds off the 3000m steeplechase record, and Matt Russ to rewrote the oldest North Texas indoor school record from 1974 in the 800m. Point contributions from the distance events was a key factor when the North Texas women’s program won back-to-back Sun Belt Outdoor Conference Championships in 2012 and 2013.
On a national level, two of Burroughs’ runners also made their way to the NCAA Championships, including Patrick Strong in the 10,000m run at the 2011 meet and Adams in the 1,500m run at the 2013 championship. Strong made his way to the national stage with the second-fastest time in UNT history while Adams advanced by running 4:15.23, the fastest time of any collegiate athlete in the state of Texas that outdoor season.
Prior to North Texas, Burroughs spent two years in the same position at Abilene Christian University, where he collected two Lone Star Conference Championships, a South Central Regional Championship and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA championship meet in men’s cross country. He was named the 2008 South Central Regional Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association as well as the Lone Star Conference Men’s Coach of the Year in 2008 and ‘09. In 2010, Burroughs coached Amos Sang to first place finishes in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs at the NCAA Championships as well as leading Sang and Cleophas Tanui to first and second place finishes, respectively, in the 10,000 meter run at the prestigious Penn Relays in 2009.
Following coaching stints with both Manhattan College and Boston University, Burroughs assisted with the highly successful Iona College (N.Y.) program for three years. Burroughs helped lead the Gaels to unprecedented success from 2005-07 as he was part of a program that posted three straight Top 4 finishes at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, including 4th in 2005 and 3rd in 2006 before Iona finished as the NCAA National Runner-ups in 2007. While at Iona, Burroughs helped coach the Gaels to three straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) titles and helped the women’s program to its third straight MAAC title.
Burroughs, who earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology in 2000 from the University of Buffalo, competed as a top member for their programs. Burroughs remained at Buffalo for graduate work, earning his Master of Science in Human Performance in 2002.