By Rick Assad
By any and all measures, the Burroughs High baseball team has had a history of success, especially across the last dozen years.
Looking at the last two head coaches – Craig Sherwood and the current skipper Matt Magallon and excluding the 2020 COVID-19 season which was limited to six games, nine of the 11 teams were .500 or better overall and nine of the 11 advanced to the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
Under Sherwood’s stewardship, the then Indians had a .500 or better record in four of his six years.
Across those seasons, Burroughs compiled a 93-74 mark and were 54-30 in the Pacific League.
In 2015, Burroughs went 24-5 and claimed the league banner with a 13-1 mark and advanced to the Division II second round and lost to Moorpark 1-0 which snapped an impressive 14-game winning streak.
The baton was handed off to Magallon in 2020, and for six seasons, the Bears have continued their winning ways.
During Magallon’s tenure, the Bears have gone 89-53 and 50-23 in league action.
“I truly feel it has been successful because when we got here, we had a vision of what the program should be,” he said. “I knew what a great culture was from previous jobs as well as a player, but we make sure that the program always comes first.”
Magallon, whose team won the school’s first ever division championship in 2022 added: “This is a college prep program that prepares players not only for the next level but for life and what comes next,” he stated.
Magallon knows what he wants to see in the program.
“Our philosophy is one of helping to shape these players into men. We are teachers that build a relationship with our players, and we want them to be successful,” he said. “We want them to achieve their dreams of playing college baseball. The way we do that is through hard work and accountability. If we do a great job at that, then our culture will thrive.”
Magallon, whose team claimed a Division V title three years ago, and his staff have sent several players to the next level.
“The program has a standard and we set our expectations extremely high because we know that will create the best player/student/man, which will be if the player wants to play beyond high school,” he said. “That is why I feel we have had success getting players ready and prepared for the next level.”
Magallon tries his best to keep his program in the spotlight, and the best way is by coming out on top.
Besides winning, Burroughs offers an environment that has had a winning culture which in turn breeds more success.
“What we have at Burroughs that I feel makes players want to be a Bear is the college prep program that we have. Everything we do in the program is to prepare players for college,” Magallon said. “We have a dedicated weight room just for the baseball players in the program. We have a strength coach that creates programs for the players to grow in the weight room without getting hurt.”
Magallon added: “We have 11 coaches on staff that are a part of the program so players can get one-on-one work as well as coaches that have gone through what they are going through as players,” he stated.
Magallon as confidence in his staff because many played baseball and want to hand over their knowledge to younger players.
“Eighty percent of our coaches played college or professional baseball so it allows them to communicate with the players what it takes to play at the next level because they have lived it and done it,” he said. “I know our program does a great job when preparing players to be successful at the next level because when players come back most have said they were ready to play right away.”
All one has to do is look at the results, according to Magallon.
“The community is seeing our successes and knows the hard work and dedication we have for the program and players and that is why I feel the players want to be Bears over other programs,” he said.
It may have taken a little time for Magallon and his staff to get the program in gear, but now it’s working full bore.
“I feel that winning is part of creating a successful program’s culture. When you talk about culture in a program, it is about leadership, accountability and belief,” he said. “Do you have leaders that can create accountability that will make players believe that they can win? When taking over Burroughs, that is what we wanted to instill in the program.”
The program has been a longtime model of consistency and hopes to continue to be.
“The first two years were hard because of COVID-19 but then the 2022 year came, and we had a great coaching staff with great leaders in the program (Mason Medina, Devan McGivern and Andrew Chapman) that kept players accountable which allowed us to believe we could win every game we played,” Magallon stated. “That team created a standard and culture that will live on for many years to come because it showed the younger players that this is how it is done. It created the expectation that we are a team that everyone should prepare for and worry about.”
Winning isn’t done in a vacuum. It takes a leader and a keen staff.
“As the head coach of the program, none of the success we have would have been possible without the amazingly hard working staff we have. A majority of the staff have been together since I came over and others have been added throughout the years,” Magallon offered. “What I feel has made us successful as a staff and being able to instill our goals and standards to the players is the fact that we talk things out often.”
Magallon is open to input from others.
“We allow coaches to be themselves and teach. Our staff have meetings often. We hang out with each other a lot and we are great friends, which allows us to be honest with one another. Just as we keep the players accountable, the coaching staff keeps each other accountable,” he stated. “We have open conversations about what we like. What we don’t like. What we need to work on. What the game plans should be for a particular opponent that we are playing.”
Magallon added: “As the head coach, it’s great to have the staff we have. I don’t want yes men. I want coaches that want us to get better and with 80 percent of the coaches having played college or pro baseball and the ones that didn’t play in college, played high level high school baseball,” he said. “We care about our players. We care about their development and growth. We want them to be successful. The pride we have as a coaching staff for players, and our program is what I feel separates us as a staff from other teams and other schools.”
