Utah State University Athletics

Tim Burmeister is in his fifth season with Utah State and second as a senior defensive analyst. He spent the 2022 season with USU as a defensive analyst, the 2021 campaign as a defensive graduate assistant and served as a special teams administrative assistant for the Aggies in 2020. In his role, Burmeister works primarily with the linebackers.

In 2023, Burmeister helped Utah State to six wins and its third-straight bowl game as it played in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Overall, it was USU’s 11th bowl game in the last 13 seasons.

Utah State also had five defenders garner various all-Mountain West accolades, including inside linebacker MJ Tafisi Jr., who was named a Phil Steele Honorable Mention All-American and first team all-conference.

Overall, Utah State ranked 33rd in the nation in tackles for loss (6.2 pg) and 38th nationally with 20 forced turnovers.

During the 2022 campaign, Burmeister helped Utah State to six wins and an appearance in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.  

Overall, the Aggie defense ranked 11th in the nation in tackles for loss (7.2 pg) and 31st in passing (205.0 ypg) in 2022. Additionally, Tafisi earned honorable mention all-MW honors under Burmeister, while Max Alford was named the MW Freshman of the Week once.

In 2021, Utah State had its best season in school history as it tied the school record with 11 wins (11-3), won its first-ever MW Championship with a 46-13 victory at No. 19 San Diego State, posted a 24-13 win against Oregon State in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl and finished the season ranked 24th in the nation in both polls. 

Utah State’s defense held each of its final three opponents to 13 or fewer points, doing so for the first time since 1983, and five of its last six opponents to 17 or fewer points. 

Utah State’s defense finished tied for second in the nation with 114.0 tackles for loss, which is also tied for the second-most in school history. And, USU limited its opponents to just 22 touchdowns on 51 trips into the red zone (.431), which ranked 10th nationally.

Utah State’s defense also ranked fourth in the nation in fourth down conversion percentage (.250), eighth with 11 forced fumbles and 27th in third down conversion percentage (.346).

Burmeister also helped linebacker Justin Rice earn second-team all-MW honors in 2021.

Working with the special teams in 2020, Burmeister helped Utah State produce the third-most efficient special teams units in the nation. In all, USU led the MW and was 11th in the nation in punt return defense (1.4 yards per return), and was first in the MW and 15th in the nation in kickoff return defense (17.4 ypr). USU was also second in the MW and 15th in the nation with two blocked kicks (1 field goal, 1 punt), third in the MW and 31st in the nation in net punting (40.4 ypp), and fifth in the MW and 20th in the nation in kickoff returns (24.5 ypr).

Burmeister also helped a pair of Aggies earn honorable mention all-MW accolades in junior kickoff returner Savon Scarver and freshman punter Stephen Kotsanlee. Scarver returned one kickoff for a touchdown during the season and averaged 31.4 yards on 10 returns, while Kotsanlee was fourth in the MW and 66th in the nation in punting (40.7 ypg). On the season, he had four 50-yard punts and 17 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

Burmeister came to Utah State after spending the 2019 campaign at Washington State, where he split time as an assistant linebackers coach and defensive quality control assistant. During his time at WSU, Burmeister coached Jahad Woods to all-Pac-12 honorable mention honors after he recorded 141 tackles – fourth-most in the country – the most by a Cougar since 1991. Woods also tallied a team-high 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one interception.

Prior to joining Washington State, Burmeister worked the previous four seasons on the North Texas coaching staff, including the final three as a defensive graduate assistant and spent the spring of 2019 in a quality control position. The native of Milwaukee, Wis., spent the 2015 season as an intern working with the Mean Green defensive backs.

Burmeister moved to coaching the linebackers as a graduate assistant from 2016-18 and helped produce four all-Conference USA linebackers during that span, led by E.J. Ejiya, who earned all-Conference USA first-team honors in 2018 after posting 121 tackles, 25.0 tackles for loss and nine sacks.

Burmeister played defensive back at Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2011-14 and earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics in 2015. He later earned his master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Burmeister is married to the former Cassidy Alles and the couple has a son, Bruin, and a daughter, Brighton.