Former professional baseball coach Brian Burgamy will serve as an assistant coach for the upcoming softball season, the Athletic Department announced last Friday.
Softball head coach Chrissy Schoonmaker appointed Burgamy as the third and final assistant coach of her staff, according to an Athletic Department release. Burgamy joins assistant coaches Teresa Fister and Avon Meacham who were added to the program in mid-August and early September, respectively.
Schoonmaker said Burgamy’s experience playing professionally for more than a decade and his experience coaching professionally has prepared him to join the program this season.
“I am thrilled to welcome Brian Burgamy to GW, to the softball program and to our coaching staff,” Schoonmaker said in the release. “Brian has a wealth of experience from his 16 plus years playing professionally, his time as an All-American student-athlete at Wichita State and his time spent coaching at the professional level.”
Before his coaching career, Burgamy played collegiately at Wichita State, starting as an outfielder for three years and finishing with a batting average of .356. During his junior campaign in 2002, he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, later being inducted into the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
He was drafted in the ninth round by the San Diego Padres and spent 16 seasons playing professional baseball from 2002 to 2018, eventually ascending to Triple-A with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015. He also spent time in the international winter leagues in Mexico, Venezuela, Australia and the Dominican Republic.
Burgamy finished his professional career with 246 home runs, more than 1,000 runs batted in, and a .270 batting average across approximately 2,000 games. He was a member of two minor league championship squads, including the 2014 Double-A Binghamton Mets with whom he was named Team MVP.
After his final season, Burgamy joined on with the St. Louis Cardinals organization as an assistant hitting coach for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds in 2018. He also served as the hitting coach for the Rookie-Level Johnson City Cardinals, aiding them to an Appalachian League title in 2019. In 2020, he was working with the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals before the minor league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing him to shift to remote instruction.
“Brian’s expertise on the offensive side of the ball and his passion to teach will be assets to our program,” Schoonmaker said. “We are excited to welcome Brian and his family to GW – I cannot wait to see the impact he makes on our student-athletes.”
Prior to his gig at GW, Burgamy worked as the managing director of RB² Baseball in Binghamton, New York where he focused on providing hitting, outfield, and infield instruction.
Burgamy and his wife Suzanne are parents to two children.
“I am extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity that Coach Schoonmaker and George Washington University have given me,” Burgamy said in the release. “I look forward to working with an outstanding coaching staff, this group of student-athletes and the administration at this very prestigious institution. I can’t wait to get started!”
The Colonials will return to the mound for their first home game of the non-conference slate against crosstown rival Howard Oct. 9. First pitch is slated for noon.
