Darren Kinnard/River Radio Sports Central
VIENNA — Going to Kentucky to find a boys basketball coach worked out really well for Vienna four years ago when the school hired Steven Dreher. With Dreher retiring next month, Vienna has gone back to Kentucky to find his replacement–a hall of famer no less.
Burlin Brower is the Eagles’ new head coach. Brower spent 13 seasons as head coach at Heath and McCracken County high schools, averaging 24 wins a season. He only had one losing seasons, his first at Heath, while compiling a 313-128 record.
He was McCracken County’s first boys basketball coach, as the school formed from consolidation of Heath, Reidland, and Lone Oak High Schools. While building the Mustangs’ program, Brower led McCracken to six District Championships, four Region One Championships, and two trips to the Elite 8 in 2014 and 2021. The program had two seasons with 30 wins. The Mustangs won 51 straight Region One games at one point, the longest streak in the history of Kentucky’s Region One basketball. While at Heath, Brower led the program to two “All A” Regional Championships and to the State Elite 8 and State Final 4. He was named Coach of the Year six times.
Brower stepped down as the Mustangs’ head coach in March of 2022. He was inducted into the Kentucky Coaches Hall of Fame a year later.
Now he returns to the sidelines to take over an Eagles’ program that went 84-33 during Dreher’s four-year tenure, with 78 of those wins coming in the last three years.
“I look forward to a return to coaching but also the competitiveness that comes with it,” Brower said in a release. “I want to continue to build on the success of Vienna basketball.”
“Coach Brower’s record speaks for itself. Vienna High School, Vienna Eagles Basketball, and the entire Eagle Nation get the privilege of adding an experienced head coach and educator to our staff,” said Vienna athletic director David Hill.
“This is an absolute win for Vienna. This shot in the arm is what we need to take our already successful program to the next level.”
At McCracken, Brower served as the lead teacher for the McCracken Alternative School. The school provided opportunities for at-risk and/or credit-deficient students and students with alternative educational needs. At Vienna, Brower will be serving on the student support service team as the REACH instructor.
