Coaching and athletics runs in Burdette’s family.  The son of teachers, Burdette was born in Port Angeles, WA., to Burdette Jr. and Cynthia Greeny, the latter a volleyball coach at Port Angeles High School. His sister, Karena, played basketball at the University of Hawaii. 

Burdette played both basketball and baseball at Port Angeles High, earning three letters in basketball and two in baseball. He earned first-team all-league honors in basketball his senior season and was a first-team all-league performer at third base his junior and senior seasons after being an honorable mention selection as a sophomore. He was named one of the top 10 pitchers in the state in 1993 by the Tacoma News Tribune and was drafted that year in the 32nd round by the New York Mets. 

Burdette chose to stay in school and attended Tacoma Community College for two years (1993-95), where he played one year of basketball and two years of baseball. He earned second-team All-West Region honors both years as a third baseman and also set a school record for striking out 17 batters in a game against Lower Columbia Community College. 

Burdette then pitched for Washington State University in 1997 and won the Strength and Conditioning Award. He signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers before the 1998 draft and was with the organization for two seasons. 

Burdette then began his coaching career, first with the Pullman Posse Junior American Legion team in 2000 for two seasons and then coached the Pullman Patriots Senior Legion team for five seasons, winning two regular season league titles and the program’s second appearance at the state tournament. The first came in 1969. Of the players who used up their Legion eligibility under Burdette, 88 percent went on to play college baseball. 

Burdette met Jennifer Stinson while at WSU and the couple are married with a 3-year-old daughter, Lauren. Burdette received a degree in Humanities with an emphasis in English from WSU.