Josh Burkett has filled a variety of roles over the years at Wes-Del High School.
First, Burkett was a student-athlete for the Warriors who participated in football, basketball and baseball before graduating in 2007. He returned to his alma mater in 2023 as boys basketball coach and has served in a variety of administrative roles since then.
Now, he adds athletic director to his list of titles. The school announced via social media on Monday, July 13, that Burkett will fill that role beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
“I’m really excited about it,” Burkett said. “It’s a role that I’m comfortable in. I told the school board when they hired me as a basketball coach that I want Wes-Del to be successful no matter what it takes or whatever role I have to take on. I’m going to do what I can to make it better and make it a place that people want to go to.”
Prior to his return to Wes-Del, Burkett spent two seasons each as the boys basketball coach at Lewis Cass (2017-19) and Western Boone (2019-21). In 2021, he returned to the East Central Indiana area as Monroe Central’s athletic director and was there for two more years before taking the Wes-Del coaching job. Burkett believes that administrative experience he gained in Parker City will serve him well as he takes on the same role for the Warriors.
“It’ll be huge because you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re in it,” Burkett said. “My first AD job, I was fortunate to follow a solid AD in Tilmon Clark, and he had left (Monroe Central) in a really good situation. I stepped into big shoes to fill, but also a good situation for my first experience. You learn as you go through it, and I’m going to hopefully use some of that experience and things that I liked and didn’t like, do things a little differently this time around at Wes-Del and make improvements as I see necessary.”
Burkett will continue in his role as Wes-Del boys basketball coach, continuing a recent trend in East Central Indiana and statewide of coaches pulling double duty as ADs. Muncie Central’s Jeff Holloway has served as AD since 2021 and returned to the sideline as the Bearcats head coach this past season, while Matt Luce served both roles at Wapahani from 2015-25 before taking the head coaching job at New Castle last offseason.
“I think it’s becoming more of a norm in the state of Indiana, along with less teachers being coaches,” Burkett said. “It’s just a different era, but fortunately, I’ve done both roles separately where I was just a teacher and a basketball coach, and then I’ve also been an administrator and basketball coach without the AD role, and then I’ve done AD by itself.
“I understand what both hats look like, so I think that’ll help when it comes to combining the two.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Wes-Del boys basketball coach Josh Burkett takes on double duty as AD
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press | USA TODAY Network
