BHS graduate Miles Burton to lead Indians boys basketball program

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Blanchester High School graduate Miles Burton will be the new boys varsity basketball coach at Hillsboro High School.

Burton was approved for the position, along with open gyms coordinator, at a recent meeting the Hillsboro City School District Board of Education.

Burton, a 2011 BHS graduate, replaces Bruce Miles as the Indians’ head coach after Miles’ departure from the program earlier this year.

Burton was part of Blanchester’s 2010 SBAAC National Division championship team. He is a graduate of Bellarmine University in Louisville and spent seven years at Kentucky Country Day as an assistant coach where he oversaw the creation of a freshman program. Most recently Burton was a member of the Goshen Warriors varsity coaching staff as an assistant during the 2018-19 season.

Burton’s interest in Hillsboro was spurred by a meeting between the Indians and Warriors earlier this year when Goshen traveled to Hillsboro in the midst of a rough stretch for the Indians and the gym was still standing room only.

“The community interest and the talent in the program from seventh grade up excited me about the Hillsboro Head Coaching position,” said Burton. “When I saw that the job had come open I applied for it.”

Burton’s experience as an assistant coach in Kentucky and Ohio has helped him prepare for the opportunity to be a head coach at the varsity level, “I have been preparing for this since I was 17 years old when I got my first coaching job. I have learned from everyone that I have been able to coach with. I just hope that I have a big enough library of information to help the players.”

Said Burton, “I am excited to get started. Bruce did a great job here for 12 years and the cupboard is not bare.”

With age comes experience and with youth comes energy, Burton falls on the youthful end and thinks his “youthful energy and fresh perspective on the kids, the league and the district,” will be good for an Indians’ program that has struggled to gain traction in recent years.

“I am in a unique position to connect with players,” he said. “Not having a wife or kids at home is something that will benefit me as a head coach and it will benefit the players that are in the program because I have more time to spend around the team.”

As far as what fans can expect from the Indians next season Burton says that offense and defense is not set in stone but the program will install what Burton calls “defensive constants” over the coming months from the junior high level to the varsity level.

Burton also said he likes to coach “an exciting brand of basketball” that will feature plenty of transition opportunities and encourage his players to shoot the ball.

Burton’s father, Rick Burton, was a coach at Blanchester High School in the late 1980s and Burton cites his lineage as well as help from Goshen Lady Warriors head coach Mark Short with inspiring him to become a coach himself.

“Without my dad and coach Short I would not have been able to position myself for a head coaching job,” said Burton.

Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.

New Hillsboro Indians varsity boys Basketball Head Coach Miles Burton is pictured during the 2018-19 season in a huddle with the Goshen Warriors where he spent the 2018-19 season as an Assistant Coach.
https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/05/web1_BBK_gosh_MilesBurtonME.jpgNew Hillsboro Indians varsity boys Basketball Head Coach Miles Burton is pictured during the 2018-19 season in a huddle with the Goshen Warriors where he spent the 2018-19 season as an Assistant Coach. Mark Huber | News Journal File Photo

By Ryan Applegate

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