“Tree” Burks enters his 13th season overall at York, and 9th season as the Head Coach for the Panthers. In Burks' first season at the helm, the Panthers finished with 17 wins including wins over three NAIA Top 20 teams. The previous two years, Burks served as the associate head coach whereas the Panthers finished with back-to-back national tournament appearances including a KCAC Tournament Championship, an Elite 8 appearance, and a Sweet 16 finish in the NAIA.
Burks’ first two-year stint with the Panthers starting in 2012, “Tree” helped guide York College with another pair of successful seasons that the program hadn't seen in over 20 years—combining for over 40+ wins in those two seasons. In 2012-13, York wrapped up the season with a 24-9 overall record-the most wins in program history, and posted a 12-4 mark in MCAC play that culminated in their first- ever regular season championship. This earned the Panthers their first ever berth into the NAIA National Tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet 16.
The program gained national recognition as well, climbing the NAIA polls as high as #15 in the nation. York was also recognized for their “Attack Basketball” style of play. The Panthers averaged 85ppg and ranked 8 th in the country both years for most points per game. During his 12 years at York University, Tree has coached a 1 st Team All-American selection, a 2nd Team All-American, 13 All- Conference players, and 13 players whom signed contracts to play professionally in Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy, England, Romania, Mongolia, and Canada.
Before his second stint at York in 2015, Burks was at, NCAA Division I, Northwestern State University of Louisiana for a season as a Graduate Assistant Coach. In this role, he assisted with on-campus recruiting, academic monitoring, video breakdown, scouting opponents, fundraising, and summer camps.
Burks’ forte is getting the community involved by coordinating summer camps in an effort to bring more recognition to the York University program by creating relationships throughout the region. In 2015, Burks composed the first boys’ basketball camp at York University in over a decade.
The Jonesboro, LA, native began his journey with at York College, (currently York University) competing as a guard under Coach Delton Deal from 2009-2012. Burks was a 3-year player for York College. As a senior, he saw action in 22 games, scoring career highs of 15 and 13 points for the Panthers. Burks was rewarded MCAC Scholar-Athlete Award and Sertoma Sportsmanship Award throughout his career.
A 2008 graduate of Jonesboro-Hodge High School, Tree was a standout player at Jonesboro-Hodge from 2005-2008 where he was a two time 1 st Team All-District performer and help lead JHHS to two Top 28 Semi-Finalists finishes in the 2A LHSAA Basketball Tournament. Tree also finished his career at JHHS as a 1,000-point scorer. Coach “Tree” Burks holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education K-12 with a minor in Coaching 7-12 from York College of Nebraska in 2012. He also went on to gain a Master of Science degree in Sports Administration from Northwestern State University in
2015.
Burks married his wife Jordeyn, formerly Jordeyn Johnson, of York, Nebraska in April of 2015. Tree and Jordeyn have three children, Lakeyn (9), Asa (7), and Khyrie (3).
