Former NFL Star, Cowboys Coach Jon Kitna Heads To Burleson High For New Position
BURLESON (CBSDFW.COM) — Jon Kitna has an undeniable passion for the game of football.
He showed it for 14 seasons as a NFL quarterback and as the quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys in 2019.
Now, his passion for the game burns brighter than ever as the new head football coach for Burleson High School. And he feels right at home.
"The family feel of that town is everything that I've been looking for, for a long time." Kitna told CBS 11.
This marks the second time Kitna will serve as a head coach for a DFW-area high school team.
He spent three seasons as the head coach for Waxahachie High School from 2015 to 2017, before joining the Cowboys in 2019.
The new hire has caused a great amount of excitement for both Burleson ISD and the town.
"What the buzz is really about is what Jon brings as a coach and how he mentors young men and women in his program." said Burleson ISD Athlectic Director Kevin Ozee.
A large part of that excitement was created at Kitna's first meeting with his new players.
"I've never witnessed a more inspirational meeting than that day." Ozee said.
Ozee said when he left that meeting, he knew he had found the perfect man for the job.
"We hired the real deal," he said.
However, about a week after Kitna was hired, the school year was put on hold by the coronavirus outbreak.
So now instead of meeting with his players in person, the new head coach does his best to keep his student athletes motivated to keep up a productive routine in the classroom and at home.
As the Cowboys quarterbacks coach, he was directly responsible for the production of Dak Prescott.
In 2019, Prescott had career highs in both touchdown passes (30) and passing yards (4,902) for a single season.
Kitna says that Prescott was never satisfied with the results, no matter how good they looked.
"Most people will reach a level and say, 'That's good enough.' Dak never says that," Kitna said. "He just wanted to be coached as hard as possible, because he wants to be the best he can possibly be. I think there are very few people like that in the world."
