T.J. Burbridge named Ready football coach
T.J. Burbridge expects a smooth transition in his new role as Ready football coach.
Burbridge has been promoted to succeed Michael Schaefer, who recently stepped down to become an assistant at Upper Arlington, where his son, Bo, will be a sophomore lineman this fall. Schaefer was with the Silver Knights for three years, leading the program for two.
Burbridge, 34, was an assistant the last four seasons, guiding the receivers and defensive backs. He'll lead the Knights in their first year in the new Central Buckeye League, which will be comprised of teams that Ready has faced in recent seasons as an auxiliary member of the MSL-Ohio.
“Knowing the kids and knowing how much we have coming back, it will be a smooth transition being familiar with everyone,” Burbridge said. “The kids are excited.”
Burbridge also is in his third season as Ready’s track and field coach. He will remain in that role this spring but expects to serve as an assistant in 2024.
“T.J. was definitely on our radar from the start, especially with what he’s done with our track program,” athletic director Steve McQuade said. “He’s grown it from 19 kids when he started to around 45 kids this season.”
This will be Burbridge’s first head-coaching job in football. Before joining the Ready staff, he was an assistant at Centennial, St. Charles, Linden-McKinley and UA.
“The relationships he has with the kids is fantastic,” McQuade said. “He has a good rapport with them. He has that friendship relationship with them, but he also knows where to draw the line and he can discipline them when needed. He has that trust of the kids of where they know he’s going to be a good leader for them.”
Burbridge is an eighth-grade intervention specialist at Hastings Middle School in Upper Arlington. He is a 2007 graduate of Centennial and a 2011 graduate of Wilmington College, playing defensive back at both schools.
Schaefer, who will serve as UA’s special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach, was an assistant at UA from 2003-18 and coached the defensive line at Hilliard Davidson in 2019 before joining the Ready staff as defensive coordinator in 2020.
He took over the program in fall 2021 after coach Joel Cutler took an indefinite leave of absence, guiding the Knights to a 5-6 record, before being named coach on a full-time basis in January 2022.
“Coach Schaefer is a mentor, a really close friend,” Burbridge said. “We’ve been together since he was at UA (the first time). He was at Davidson for one year, but we remained in constant communication. He’s a huge mentor for me and I respect him and admire him so much.”
Burbridge takes over a program coming off an 8-4 season. The Knights won two postseason games before losing to Gnadenhutten Indian Valley 34-10 in a Division IV, Region 15 semifinal.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ready High School promotes T.J. Burbridge to football coach
