Siler City, NC – The Town of Siler City welcomes Trieston Burnette as its new Parks & Recreation Director.
Graduating from Jordan Matthews High School in 2005, Burnette went on to be a student-athlete at Guilford College and was named Offensive County Player of the Year, earning All-Conference honors in football and excelling in baseball, garnering All-Conference, All-State, and All-Region recognition while breaking six school records. Burnette turned his focus to leadership within communities after a career-ending injury.
Burnette served as a football operations intern for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for three years and graduated from UNC Greensboro in 2012, attaining a bachelor’s degree in Parks and Recreation Management. Since then, Burnette co-founded the Greensboro Giants, now known as Triad Elite Ducks, a program that has helped produce numerous Division I athletes. Most recently, he helped merge local wrestling programs in Wilson, NC. He is also a graduate of the NCAA/NFL Coaches Academy, a national program recognizing top coaching talent.
Burnette has spent the last 15 years coaching college football while creating and strengthening youth programs in every community he served. Treiston Burnette was Barton College’s first defensive coordinator for the newly-formed intercollegiate football program, which began play in the 2020 season. Immediately after the first full season of 2021, Burnette was elevated to Senior Associate Head Coach.
Hired on December 7, 2018, Burnette came to Barton after spending the two years (2017-18) as Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach at Averett University, an NCAA Division III school in Danville, Virginia. In 2018, the Cougars had their best record in school history at 8-2 while Burnette guided the conference’s top defensive unit.
Averett’s defense produced 13 All-USA South Conference selections in those two seasons including the 2018 league defensive rookie of the year. The Cougars also allowed just 13.8 points per game on average in 2017 and 2018 and won a combined 14 contests.
Prior to Averett, Burnette spent five years on the coaching staff at Guilford, an NCAA Division III school in Greensboro, N.C., holding the following positions: defensive backs coach (2011, 2013-14), linebackers coach (2012) and co-defensive coordinator (2015-16).
The last two years as coordinator with the Quakers, Guilford went 17-3 and coached Satiir Stevenson and Jermario Gooch to All-American honors.
Burnette has returned to his hometown of Siler City with his wife and three children. Burnette’s goal with his new position is to focus on building high-impact programs that serve all youth, to develop their skills, confidence, discipline, and purpose in a positive and engaging manner. Burnette emphasized that all kids, regardless of gender or background, deserve elite-level development opportunities. “This is about more than sports. This is about building a stronger community through our kids. It starts with investing. But it only works if we all buy in. Parents, coaches, and leaders all play a role in lifting this generation,” Burnette shared.
For more information, please contact Siler City Parks and Recreation at (919) 742-2699, recreation@silercity.gov, or visit www.silercity.org.