For new Briar Woods Head Football Coach Michael Burnett, there really is no place like home.

One of the most successful coaches in Northern Virginia over a ten-year span from 2007-2017, Burnett moved east from Santa Monica, California in 2006, and quickly made an imprint in Loudoun County, leading Broad Run to a pair of State Championships in 2008 and 2009. He then took over the fledgling Tuscarora program, making the Huskies a two-time Class 5 state finalist (lost to L.C. Bird and Highland Springs), while compiling a 77-24 mark over an eight-year span.

In 2018, he announced his intention to return to California to head the Harvard-Westlake team, one of the more notable private programs in the Los Angeles region. In his lone season, Burnett’s team went 6-5, yet helped the Falcons' new coach to reshuffle his football priorities. He decided to resign from Harvard-Westlake, and coupled with the COVID pandemic, gave Burnett an excellent opportunity to reflect on the priorities of his avocation.

“I enjoy trying to make a unit,” said Burnett from California, where he will stay for “the next couple of weeks,” before moving back to the Ashburn area where Briar Woods is located.

“I’m most proud of building a neighborhood of local kids, which is different from private school, where it’s all about recruiting.”