Robert Burlingham is entering his first season at NCCU with Coach LeVelle Moton as Director of Basketball Operations. He spent the previous two seasons on the staff at Middle Tennessee State University as Assistant Coach/Director of Operations and also spent time at McNeese State University under head coach John Aiken as the Director of Basketball Operations.
With the Blue Raiders, Burlingham conducted defensive scouting reports and film edits, coordinated and ran summer camps, supervised the support staff, organized team travel logistics as well as overall team development at practices. Additionally, he assisted the staff with on-court workouts and assisted with recruiting student-athletes. Burlingham assisted with the development of CUSA All-Conference members: Jestin Porter, Cam Weston, Ess-m Mostafa, Torey Alston, Chris Loofe, and Elias King. Additionally, the Blue Raiders captured a 2025 NIT berth against UT Chattanooga during Burlingham’s tenure.
During Burlingham’s time at McNeese, the Cowboys made program history in back-to-back postseasons with a win in the Southland Conference Tournament in 2021-22 against Northwestern State and with two wins against Texas A&M Commerce & Nicholls State in 2022-23. Burlingham oversaw graduate assistants/managers, all team travel logistics, oversaw and monitored the team budget, aided with McNeese compliance and student services to oversee all student-athlete academic progress, and was the camp director for the John Aiken Basketball Camp. Burlingham aided with the growth of guard Johnathan Massie, who captured Southland Freshman of the Year in 2021-22, while forward Christian Shumate garnered Third Team All-Southland recognition in the same season and was named Second Team All-Conference in 2022-23. Shumate is now a member of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Before McNeese, Burlingham worked as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. He worked for 2008 AP Coach of the Year Keno Davis, assisting with player development, conducting scouting reports, assisting with academic advising, and overseeing Adidas gear inventory. During the 2019-20 season, the Chippewas ranked first in the Mid-American Conference and 21st nationally in steals per game (9.1). He also oversaw student managers and aided with the player development of David DiLeo, who is the MAC all-time leading three-point scorer, as well as CMU's all-time leading three-point shooter.
Prior to CMU, Burlingham served as an assistant coach at West Virginia Tech following a stint as an assistant coach at Carolina Day School for both the varsity and junior varsity boys teams. It was at WVU Tech during the 2018-19 season where he was the top assistant and helped guide the Golden Bears to a program record best 30-5 record, River States Conference regular season and conference tournament champions, and advancement to the NAIA National Tournament second round, the furthest any WVU Tech team has even advanced. Under Burlingham’s development with head coach Bob Williams, the Golden Bears had three All-Conference players named in the River States Conference during the 2018-2019 season. With Burlingham coaching the guards, Elisha Boone was also named on the 2018-2019 NAIA First Team All American roster while guard Brandon Shingles received NAIA All American Honorable Mention honors. Burlingham also helped oversee and focused on the Golden Bear's offense which finished the 2018-2019 season ranking second in points per game (94.8), third in assists per game (18.1), third in 3-point field goal percentage (41.9%), and seventh in Offensive Rebounds Per Game (13.5).
After the 2016 season, Burlingham returned to the UNC Asheville staff as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations from spring until the end of the summer where he assisted with the daily functions of the program, coordinated and ran the UNC Asheville Kids Camp, Team Camp and Elite Camp, assisted with player workouts over the summer, assisted with travel reservations and logistics and organized film.
Prior to his return to UNC Asheville, Burlingham worked at Western Carolina University, where he worked under Ohio Hall of Fame Coach Larry Hunter as the head student manager (2014-16). He assisted with workouts and statistics during game play, worked with film and handled the distribution of film to opponents and the Southern Conference, assisted the director of operations with functions of the program and assisted with travel logistics.
Burlingham began his coaching career as a student manager at UNC Asheville (2013-14) where he was in charge of film and day-to-day functions of the program while also assisting with player workouts, basketball operations and team inventory.
A native of Asheville, North Carolina, he earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Western Carolina in 2016 and his M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan in 2021. Burlingham is also a member of the Nations of Coaches as well as the Black Coaches Association.
