Coaching legend Bill Burgess coached the Gamecocks for 12 seasons from 1985-96 and built Jax State into one of the top Division II football programs in the nation. He finished with an overall record of 84-49-4, winning four conference titles, the 1992 NCAA Division II National Championship and ushered in the Gamecocks' move up to Division I. Burgess, one of the namesakes of Burgess-Snow Field, has been inducted into several halls of fame. Prior to the 2023 induction by the Gulf South Conference, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2019 and the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame in 2011, along with the Jax State Athletics Hall of Fame and the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
Eight of his 12 season at JSU came in the GSC, where he led the Gamecocks to conference titles in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992 – all within their final five seasons in the league before moving to Division I. He led the Gamecocks to three national title game appearances and won the school's first national championship in football in 1992. His overall record during the Division II GSC tenure was 79-22-4 and included a 42-15-3 conference record. He was a three-time GSC Coach of the Year and the 1992 NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. Under Burgess' guidance, JSU became the first GSC program in history to win 13 games in a season in 1989.
Burgess coached 64 All-GSC Players and Nine All-Americans during his GSC tenure at Jax State. In 2021, he received the Alabama Football Coaches Association (ALFCA) Lifetime Achievement Award.
A Second-Team All-State player at Jones Valley High School in Birmingham, Burgess went on to play fullback at Auburn, where he lettered in 1961 and 1962. He took the head coaching job at Woodlawn HS in Birmingham in 1966 at age 25 and spent five seasons there before taking the head coaching position at Oxford HS in Oxford, Ala. He would stay there for 14 seasons before becoming the head coach at Jacksonville State in 1985. He retired after the 1996 season.
Coach Burgess passed away in December 2023, just days before the team led into the Division I era won its first FBS bowl game in program history.
