Nigel Burton (born July 30, 1976) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

commentator for

CW Sports CW Sports is the sports programming division of The CW that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried on the network. The division was formed in 2023 with The CW's acquisition of broadcast rights to LIV Golf. The CW also airs college football ...

and the former

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for the

Portland State Vikings Portland State Vikings is the nickname of the NCAA-affiliated, intercollegiate athletic teams representing Portland State University of Portland, Oregon. The Vikings compete at the NCAA Division I level in basketball, soccer, volleyball, golf, t ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

team.

Playing career

Burton grew up in Sacramento where he attended Jesuit High School. He attended the University of the Pacific in 1995, but when the school eliminated its football program the following year, he transferred to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree. He played

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

for both schools' football teams. He earned all-academic honors from the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

three times at Washington and later earned a masters in business administration at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

Coaching career

Burton's first coaching job was as a defensive assistant for

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

in 2000. From 2001 to 2002, he coached defensive backs at Portland State, and then from 2003 to 2007, coached the secondary at Oregon State. In 2008, Burton was named defensive coordinator at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. In 2009, Burton was selected to replace

Jerry Glanville Jerry Michael Glanville (born October 14, 1941) is an American football coach. He is the defensive coordinator for Northwestern Oklahoma State University, a position he has held since 2024. Prior to that, was most recently the head coach of the ...

as the head coach at Portland State. He became the second African American head football coach in school history after Ron Stratten, who coached in the early 1970s. Burton was fired after the 2014 season and compiled an overall record of 21–36 during his tenure at Portland State. In 2015, Burton joined Pac-12 Networks as an analyst.For Nigel Burton, TV work is an ideal way to be in the game while remaining in his beloved Portland

Personal

Burton is married and has two children.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Nigel 1976 births Living people American football safeties Oregon State Beavers football coaches Pacific Tigers football players Portland State Vikings football coaches South Florida Bulls football coaches Washington Huskies football players Players of American football from Sacramento, California African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Jesuit High School (Carmichael) alumni