Aberdeen Central has announced Paiton Burckhard as their new head girls basketball coach. Burckhard, who played for the Golden Eagles as a prep athlete, will replace Mikayla Arechigo in the role.
Throughout her time at Aberdeen Central, Burckhard held numerous accolades as a high school basketball player. She scored 1,706 points in her career and also accumulated nearly 900 rebounds as well. The former South Dakota Miss Basketball and Spirit of Su recipient also helped lead the Golden Eagles to state championships in 2018 and 2016.
After high school Burckhard went onto play basketball at South Dakota State University. Along with being a part of numerous summit league tournament titles, NCAA tournament appearances, and a WNIT championship, her individual resume throughout her five-year collegiate playing career was impressive too. She scored 1,769-points, snagged 826 rebounds, and recorded 261 assists as a Jackrabbit. She also had a career shooting percentage of 51% in college.
“One, I’m just really excited to get into the basketball side of things. Obviously, I still pay close attention to it, but I’m excited to get back into it. From a coaching standpoint, I’m just really excited to hopefully be a role model and be someone who can hopefully influence and help grow young individuals, and hopefully give them an awesome experience and create memories,” explained Burckhard. “Ultimately, I hope to have a good impact and get some wins along the way.”
Burckhard was also gifted the opportunity to play for two of the most decorated coaches in the state. In high school, she played for Dawn Seiler, who today is the second winningest girls basketball coach in state history. And then in college, she played for Aaron Johnston, who is one of the top college coaches in state history, regardless of sport. Buckhard mentioned how Seiler and AJ both believed in their players and believed they could succeed. This is something she hopes to take with her in her journey to being a coach.
“Just how important it is as a coach, for you to put that out there that you believe in your players, you care for them, you want the best for them. I think that’s one of the reasons why I, and why my teams have been so successful is because we knew our coaches wanted it as bad as we did,” Burckhard said. “That’s definitely something that I hope I can pass off and show to my athletes as well.”
Rewind back a few years, and Paiton isn’t sure if she saw herself coaching, but she’s certainly ready for it now.
“At the time when I was done, I was kind of just ready to be done and focus on my life, but now that I’ve been out of it, I’ve really noticed how much I’ve missed it. So, when the position popped up, I was like “I have to look into this,”” Burckhard stated. “When talking to Seiler recently, she said “your players take on the personality of you as a coach, whether you recognize it or not.” I kind of said to her, “you do know, if I didn’t have as good of a coach as you, I probably wouldn’t even consider this." She just laughed.”
South Dakota has a strong resume of former girls basketball players, who have tested the coaching waters. Dawn Seiler herself was a player for McLaughlin, who eventually got into coaching at McIntosh and then Aberdeen Central. Then there’s Becky Hammon, a Rapid City Stevens grad, who since 2022 has been the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA. But most recently are names like Macy Miller, Brianna Kusler, and Chloe Lamb, who are also getting their feet wet in the coaching realm, whether it be college or high school. Now, add Paiton Burckhard to the list.
“It amazes me how much this state supports girls and women’s basketball. The feeling you get when you play at a state tournament or get to play at SDSU in front of your home crowd, I think that’s just a testament to the community that South Dakota is, and the environment it has created around girls basketball,” exclaimed Burckhard.
While building a winning culture is one of her goals, Burckhard is also looking forward to coaching her younger sister Lauryn, who was a freshman this past season at Aberdeen Central.
