{"id":499785,"date":"2026-02-26T01:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/499785\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T01:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:53:09","slug":"henry-burris-weighing-coaching-media-opportunities-with-family-in-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/499785\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry Burris weighing coaching, media opportunities with family in mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo: Handout\/Henry Burris<\/p>\n

Henry Burris is patiently waiting for a new opportunity after his two-year coaching stint at Florida A&M University (FAMU) came to an end last month.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old was named FAMU\u2019s acting head coach in December after James Colzie III was fired following a 5-7 season. Two weeks later, Quinn Gray Sr., an alumnus of the school who played quarterback in the NFL for seven seasons, was hired as FAMU\u2019s new head coach. Burris, the incumbent quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator, wasn\u2019t retained as part of the new staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something that was expected because when a new coach comes in and he\u2019s wanting to instil his philosophy and create a whole new culture, he\u2019s going to bring in his staff that he\u2019s had with him since day one,\u201d Burris said on the 3DownNation Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s transitioned me into the position of making sure that the next position is worth it because my youngest son will be going into his final year of high school football in the fall, so really I\u2019m putting a lot of weight on what decision I make. I want to make a decision that\u2019s going to be better for my family and I five years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family \u2014 Burris, wife Nicole, and sons Armand and Barron \u2014 have made Tallahassee, Fla. their permanent home base. Coaching at FAMU was a dream come true for Burris as Armand is a receiver on the team, recently completing his redshirt freshman season. After having his own playing career take time away from his role as a father, Burris felt his tenure at FAMU helped him get some of those years back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unreal to have a chance to kind of make up for that lost time. Especially when I played for so many years up in the CFL, I missed a lot of those moments with both my young boys and to see them just taking off from an age standpoint and an achievement standpoint, I wanted to be able to give back to them at any point possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an opportunity to be able to coach my son \u2026\u00a0was something I couldn\u2019t say no about, just to see how much he\u2019s flourishing. To see my youngest, Barron, who\u2019s in his junior year (of high school) and kicking field goals over 50-plus yards on a regular basis \u2014 and on kickoffs, kicking it out the end zone \u2014 I couldn\u2019t miss those moments. For me to be here, being able to watch them is what it\u2019s all about at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burris ended his CFL career with a performance for the ages in the 104th Grey Cup, throwing for 461 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception to lead the Ottawa Redblacks to an upset 39-33 victory over the Calgary Stampeders and be named the game\u2019s Most Valuable Player. He then transitioned seamlessly into a media career that included regular appearances on the CFL on TSN and CTV Morning Live.<\/p>\n

Powered by RedCircle<\/a><\/p>\n

It seemed like Burris was going to spend the next 20 years on television. As a household name with an upbeat personality and a mile-wide smile, Burris was tailor-made for the job. Instead, he left it all behind to pursue coaching, having NFL stints with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Rams before making his way to FAMU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s something that kind of comes from my family lineage. My father coached me in different sports when I was growing up as a kid,\u201d said Burris.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile doing TSN, whenever I did some colour commentary and those the opportunities came about, my palms got sweaty just being on the field, being \u2026 down there talking to the guys, talking football, talking the Xs and Os. (My career) wasn\u2019t gonna be complete until I actually took that opportunity to experience (coaching).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the game\u2019s going more transactional \u2026 but I wanted to help change that narrative and at least be a guy who could speak from experience and really help divulge into these young men, invest into them, and really create that impact that just lies in my heart \u2014 that\u2019s really the reason why I got into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burris still watches the CFL closely, saying games were always on the television in his office at FAMU while game-planning and doing paperwork. He hasn\u2019t ruled out coaching in the league but cited the operations cap, which limits the size of coaching staffs and the salaries they can be paid, as a significant obstacle.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the game is suffering because there\u2019s no investment into the coaches \u2014 that\u2019s why there\u2019s been a hesitance on guys like myself to come back to the CFL because it\u2019s gotta be worth our time as well. I know for me, I have a family of four and I\u2019m paying for college down here in the U.S. I\u2019ve gotta be able to afford that,\u201d said Burris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard a number of coaches who\u2019ve wanted to coach in Canada, but when they\u2019ve seen that obstacle right there, it\u2019s kind of been a deterrent for certain guys. At the end of the day, we have to do what\u2019s best for us and our families before we continue to look at our dreams as far as coaching professional football, and that\u2019s been a big no-go for a lot of guys as far as just the coaching cap that\u2019s been set.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Burris is coaching young quarterbacks in Florida and expects to be doing more digital and in-person coaching over the coming months.<\/p>\n

Optimally, he\u2019d like his next role to continue the positive trajectory he\u2019s been on since he started with Chicago as a seasonal coaching assistant in 2020. He\u2019s also open to returning to the media, as many veteran coaches do between jobs. Regardless of what it ends up being, however, it needs to work not just for him but also his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a 50-year-old guy now, (prospective coaching jobs have) to align with where we are as a family right now,\u201d said Burris. \u201cIf it\u2019s not a position that\u2019s worthy enough for me making that move and missing some of those key moments, especially for Barron in his final year (of high school), I\u2019m not willing to make that move.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Handout\/Henry Burris Henry Burris is patiently waiting for a new opportunity after his two-year coaching stint at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,25620,166938,49,48,7028,521,522,520,1172,7579,551,6388,166939,527,166940,1627,7338,166943,82,4139],"class_list":["post-499785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-am","tag-burris","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-coach","tag-coaching","tag-college","tag-florida","tag-florida-am","tag-football","tag-henry-burris","tag-qb","tag-quarterback","tag-rattlers","tag-sports","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}