Salina Central High School Athletics

Coach Burgardt swam for the Great Bend High School swim team. He graduated from Emporia State University with a Bachelor's in Secondary Education with emphasis in Physics and Earth Science. He has been teaching at Salina High School Central since 2013. He has been the head coach for the Salina Central and South teams since 2013 as well.
Coach Burgardt believes that, due to his position as a teacher and coach, he has the opportunity to influence the youth of Salina in a positive way. He strives to instill character traits that will help students and athletes be positive, productive, and compassionate members of society.  He believes that, by participating in team sports, an individual can become part of something bigger. This naturally causes responsibility and duty to increase communication and cooperation skills as well as the compassion to realize what another might be going through in order to accomplish their goals.

My name is Michael Hair, I grew up in Lincoln, Kansas which is only 45 miles from Salina; consequently, I have always been familiar and associated with the community of Salina in some fashion my whole life.  In 2001 I graduated from Lincoln Jr/Sr High School.  In 2006 I earned my bachelor’s degree in Technology Studies from Fort Hays State University.  I started teaching at Central in 2007 and have been at Central for the past 14 years teaching primarily the drafting, engineering, and architecture classes.  Over the past 14 years I have periodically taught a woods and metals class as well.  I earned my master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from Kansas State University in 2010.  

This year my wife (Michelle) and I will be celebrating our 13th anniversary.  We have 3 kids Lyle-9, Elisa-6, and Ian-3.  Two years ago we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to purchase my wife’s grandpa’s farm which has been in her family for generations.  We currently live on the farm which is about 10 miles south of Lincoln.  For the past couple years we have been really busy working on the farm and getting the place back in good condition.  In my spare time I really enjoy working on the farm, hunting, trapping, and fishing along with spending time with my family.

Jeremiah Thornton grew up in Colorado and moved to Kansas to attend Newman University in Wichita.  After graduating with B.S. degrees in Psychology and Sociology, he then attended Fort Hays State University to study Experimental Psychology, and this is also where he met his wife, Lori, a Salina native who works as the School Psychologist for Salina South.  He is the Family and Student Support Coordinator for Salina South, has been an assistant coach in the Cougar Baseball program for 7 years, and is now in his 2^nd year of coaching the boys dive program.  Outside of school and extracurricular activities, he enjoys spending time with his son, who will turn three this Spring.