Arkansas Tech head men’s basketball coach Mark Downey has announced the hiring of Harrison Burton as the program’s assistant coach.

 “Coach Burton is a welcome addition to our staff,” said Downey. “He has high character, comes from a great family and has been around a lot of winning in his career thus far. Harrison brings different recruiting ties, different philosophies and new ideas which I am really looking forward to.”

 Burton comes to Tech following a highly successful two-year stint as an assistant coach at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn. Before he was on staff at LMU as a full-time assistant, Burton had spent two years with the program as graduate assistant from 2019-20 – 2020-21. In those two seasons, Burton helped guide LMU to a 32-1 record in 2019-20 before COVID canceled the rest of that season and then an appearance in the NCAA DII Final Four the following year.

 In his most-recent two years at LMU, Burton helped lead the Railsplitters to a pair of South Atlantic Conference (SAC) regular season championships. In those two seasons, Lincoln Memorial was 37-7 in conference play and 49-15 overall.

 “Everywhere Coach Burton has been, they have won at a high level,” added Downey. “He knows the caliber of player, and can get the caliber of player, needed to win in the NCAA Tournament!”

 While on staff at LMU, Burton served as the program’s recruiting coordinator as well as the offensive coordinator. This past season, LMU’s offense ranked fifth in DII in overall field goal percentage (.513) and effective field goal percentage (.582). Additionally, the Railsplitters, who averaged 84.3 points per game, ranked 10^th in free throws made per game (17.8), 25^th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40).

 “I’m honored to be joining the Arkansas Tech men’s basketball program,” said Burton. “I want to thank Coach Mark Downey for the opportunity to be part of something special here. His leadership and dedication to building winners — both on and off the court — is something I look forward to being a part of. I’m excited to contribute, grow, and help this program continue moving forward. Let’s go to work.”

 Prior to returning to LMU, Burton spent a season as an assistant at Lander University in Greenwood, S.C. While at Lander, Burton was the recruiting coordinator, oversaw team academics and assisted in offensive and defensive game prep. That year, Lander ranked first in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) in assist-to-turnover ratio, three-pointers per game, scoring margin and overall defense. He also helped lead the Bearcats to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018-19.

 Burton also has DI experience in his coaching career as he was the video coordinator at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana following his time as a GA at LMU.