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The arrival of Michael

Burnett at Broad Run in 2006 followed a season in which the Spartans

finished 1-9. Under Burnett's leadership the program has turned in seasons

of 5-5, 10-1 and now a state title and a perfect 14-0 record. Not a tough

choice as our Division 4 Coach of the Year!

When asked the key's to his

and the team's success, Burnett responded "The biggest thing, I think, was you

kind of had to have a positive attitude," Burnett said. "Things around here, the

program had been down for a while, and I think what happens is you get a lot of

negative energy that starts to surround a program. A lot of people were kind of

just waiting for the next bad thing to happen. We got that turned around pretty

quickly and it just continued to grow."

Hardly the new man on the

block, James Monroe football coach Rich Serbay has twenty four seasons

and now four state titles on his resume since taking over as the Yellow Jackets

football coach. But the veteran is not opposed to change and started the

2008 season off with switching returning all-region quarterback Devontae Atkins to wide receiver and installing

first year starter John Jackson under center. All Jackson did was throw for

2,315 yards and 33 touchdowns, including a state playoff-record five in the

title game, making Serbay, once again, look like a genius. And, oh by the

way, Atkins responded favorably as well, having a great season and came up big

in the post season, helping JM claim the state title and garnering all-state

honors for himself along the way.

Serbay and the Yellow Jackets

took the rough road thru the playoffs and responded. In the state

semi-finals they defeated the defending champions in Monticello, and then in the

state finals beat a favored Brookville team. The Bees had been the

VirginiaPreps.com preseason #1 team in AA, and had stayed at the top of the

site's ranking the entire season. Serbay is an easy choice as the

VirginiaPreps.com Division 3 Coach of the Year