NIU women’s soccer assistant coach Jason Burr is used to a heavy workload.

Burr, a former Division III head coach at Thomas More College in Kentucky, has been with NIU for four years, assisting under head coach Carrie Barker then entire time.

Not only was Burr a former head coach, he was also pulling double-duty serving as the head coach for Saints’ women’s and men’s teams.

“It was great because I was outside basically all day,” Burr said. “It was a chaotic four years. It was very strenuous having to recruit for both teams, as well as training, obviously. But it was a great learning experience.”

Burr has aspirations to coach at a Division I level, leaning more towards the women’s side.

“It has more of a family environment to it,” Burr said. “There’s a great team dynamic, more so than the men’s side. So I think I would like to continue coaching the women.”

Aside from a vast amount of coaching experience, Burr also has hands on experience playing soccer since he was 5-years-old, including playing semi-professionally.

There was no hesitation for Burr when attempting to pin-point when he knew he wanted to coach.

“[It was] when I realized I was not good enough to get paid for playing,” laughed Burr. “I got to a point where I recognized I would never make a career being a player. I wanted to be involved with the game somehow and coaching was that avenue I had.”

Drawing from that playing experience is a great tool in the coaching arsenal, especially given his former position of defender.

“Outside of the goalkeeper, I had the best view of the game on the field,” Burr said. “I was never the fastest or the biggest player, but my greatest attribute as a player was I read the game really well. I can see things before they actually occur and that is a huge benefit to my coaching career.”

Burr has experience working with all types of people over the years.

“He’s very laid back and funny,” said NIU junior midfielder/forward Shelbi Johnson. “He also knows how to speak to individual people. He’s very good at knowing who he’s talking to and altering the manner in which he coaches them.”

Although he aspires to be a Division I head coach, Burr is also content with his current position.

“Our dynamic is very interesting because Carrie is always thinking about things and always on the go,” Burr said. “Sara [Kloosterman] is kind of the entertainer of the group and keeps things light. I think I’m more of the laid back one who deals with things as they come. It’s nice that we can all relate to the players in different ways.”

Although he claims to be laid-back, during gametime Burr becomes animated.

“My passion gets the better of me sometimes,” Burr said. “Once again, it’s a great mix because Carrie always keeps her cool, and I bring a weird level of excitement, I think.”