Robert Burlingham shares his journey from bagging groceries to becoming a coach at the NCAA Division One level.

He began his coaching career as a student manager Nick McDevitt at UNC Asheville in 2013. He transferred to Western Carolina - where he continued serving as a student manager - this time under [the late] Larry Hunter. After graduating in2016 he returned to UNC Asheville and spent the spring and summer there before accepting an Assistant Coach position at Spire Academy. Coach Burlingham remained at Spire until January of 2017 before moving onto Carolina Day School.

WVU Tech hired him as the top Assistant Coach and he helped Bob Williams guide the Golden Bears to a 30-5 record, River States Conference regular season and conference tournament championship, and advancement to the NAIA National Tournament second round. Following the historic run at WVU Tech, he accepted a Graduate Assistant position at Central Michigan under Keno Davis, where he remained until 2021 when he was named the Director of Basketball Operations at McNeese State.