Ready for the Challenge Ahead

Northern Arizona's season-opening exhibition against Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University allowed a few Lumberjacks to see their first time in a collegiate game while also giving its new head coach a chance to ease into his role.

Shane Burcar, the Lumberjacks interim head coach following the departure of Jack Murphy in June, led Northern Arizona to a 109-75 victory in Rolle Activity Center against the NAIA program. Hired as an assistant by Murphy about 19 months ago a 12-year tenure with Mesa High School, Burcar moved into the head coaching role with Murphy accepting a position on Sean Miller's staff at Arizona.

For Burcar, the first game as Northern Arizona's head coach was no different than any other in his career thus far.

"It felt normal. My wife asked me today if I was nervous and I wasn't," Burcar said following the game on Oct. 28. "I am not trying to be someone that I am not. I have coached over 300 games in my life and I was just ready to go. I'm grateful for the opportunity and it was a normal day playing a basketball game."
 
Much of Northern Arizona's roster played for Burcar last season, as the Lumberjacks return 73.7% of their minutes played from the 2018-19 season while also adding Cam Satterwhite and Keith Haymon to the rotation after the two redshirted with the Lumberjacks last season.
 
One of the newest Lumberjacks previously played for Burcar while he served as the head coach of the Jackrabbits. David Cummard, a member of Burcar's Division I state title team at Mesa in 2016, arrives in Flagstaff as a redshirt sophomore.
 
Completing the unlikely combination of playing for the same head coach in both high school and college, Cummard said Burcar was likely to lead a collegiate program one day.
 
"He's always been a great coach and I knew one day he would outgrow the shell of Mesa," Cummard said. "He did a great job there and he's going to do a great job from here on out. I mean, he is one of the best coaches in the entire nation. The sky's the limit."
 
When Burcar joined Northern Arizona's staff in April 2018, with the Lumberjacks looking to deepen their ties to the state's recruiting base, he hoped to one day take over a Division I coaching job. However, he naturally expected it to take longer than just one season at the level.
 
"That was my goal since I was a kid, but then you kind of get established," Burcar said of his original career aspirations. "I loved my job at Mesa... Coach Murphy gave me a call and I most certainly didn't think I would be a head coach this quick. I was going to go for about five years at this level and hopefully somebody would have hired me. Now this is the opportunity of a lifetime."
 
In Burcar's 12-year tenure, the Jackrabbits attained a 237-103 with seven region titles while he earned six region coach of the year honors. During his tenure, multiple players went on to play at the D-I level with Aaron Fuller at USC, Donte Medder and Blondy Baruti at Tulsa and Jahii Carson spending two seasons at Arizona State.

The 2016 Division I state title came after the Jackrabbits entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed thanks to a 15-3 regular season record. Burcar got his start in the Arizona high school basketball scene in 1998 coaching under hall of fame coach Tom Bennett at Gilbert High School before moving over to Mesa Community College and later Mesa High School.

"He's the same guy, same intensity, the same competitiveness, same toughness," Cummard said of Burcar's coaching style between high school and college. "You know what you are going to get with Coach Burcar. He brings it every day, and it was the same 10 years ago as it is today."

Burcar's familiarity, even with just one year in Flagstaff, unsurprisingly made the transition from assistant to head coach easier than if he had been hired as a head coach freshly into a new program.

Burcar inherits one of the Big Sky Conference's best rebounders in Bernie Andre, the Big Sky's Newcomer of the Year and third-team honoree as a sophomore, and Luke Avdalovic, one of the nation's best 3-point shooters last year as a redshirt freshman.

Along with the heart of Northern Arizona's roster, the recruiting class also knew what to expect from Burcar given the relationship between the two sides growing during the past year.

"All of the other recruits coming in, I pretty much knew, I helped recruit them. I am not going to take credit for them, but I helped recruit them and knowing the guys was everything," Burcar said. "They know how I was. I was as an assistant coach and sometimes you think people will be soft, but I wasn't soft on the guys. I was myself and I think you can respect that. I think as you can give them the truth, they can't deny that."

Cummard said one of Burcar's most important traits is how much he cares about the players on his team.

"He's tough on us because he knows cares so much," Cummard said. "He knows how good we can be and we feed off of his energy, we feed off his intensity. It makes us better, it makes everybody better."
 
With the large number of players returning to a program that finished 8-12 in the Big Sky Conference a year ago, its best finish since the 23-win season in 2015, Burcar said he is confident about the opportunity.
 
"I feel really good about is the leadership of the university with President Cheng and athletic director Mike Marlow, they are great people and really transparent with everything," Burcar said. "And the thing I have going for me is I have 15 guys that are all about Flagstaff and Northern Arizona University. What we are trying to get done this year, we are trying to be the best we can, whatever that may be."