When the Burrell boys basketball team reached the WPIAL Championship game over the winter, it brought back memories of the previous Buccaneers team that made a title appearance more than a decade prior. Cole Bush was the headliner of that basketball squad, but he was even better known for his exploits on the gridiron. As a result, he continued his football career at the Division I level, but quickly realized it was not for him. Bush’s journey is under the microscope in this installment of Westmoreland Where Are They Now?

Before he made a major impact in football, Bush cracked the Burrell basketball roster as a freshman in the 2009-10 campaign. That season, the Bucs went 14-8 overall, including 10-2 in section play, making the WPIAL Class AA postseason.

The next fall, Bush was a receiver and linebacker for the Bucs football team. Burrell went 4-5 overall, including 3-4 in the Class AA Allegheny Conference, and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Moving up in classification, Burrell struggled mightily on the hardwood in 2010-11. The Bucs won just four games, including a mark of 1-13 in section action.

Bush shifted to a new position of running back for the 2011 football season, and he quickly emerged as a top player in the area. In 10 contests, Bush rushed 161 times for 1,032 yards, caught a dozen passes for 233 yards, and amassed 24 total touchdowns. Burrell improved to 6-4, including 5-2 in the conference. Qualifying for the WPIAL Class AA postseason, Burrell came up short against Jeannette in the first round.

In the winter, Burrell boys basketball amassed a mark of 10-11 overall, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Bush’s senior year was one for the ages, however, both in football and basketball.

Burrell opened the football season with a dominant win at Brownsville Area, with Bush scoring four times. As a result of his efforts, he was honored as the WTAE Player of the Week. That set the tone for the rest of the fall for Bush, who put up eye-popping statistics.

“Senior year, I just didn’t expect to have the success I did,” Bush said, revealing that he and teammate James Liput checked the box scores in the newspaper every Monday to see how Bush stacked up with the rest of the WPIAL.

“Consistently, I was top five in yards and touchdowns,” he noted.

Burrell opened the campaign with a five-game winning streak, highlighted by a wild 56-35 victory at Kittanning, a contest that Bush called the most exciting of his senior season. A lopsided win against the Bucs’ biggest rival also stuck out in his memory.

“Beating Valley is always exciting,” he said of the 41-6 triumph against the Vikings.

The lone blemish in the regular season was a loss to Freeport Area, a game marred by an injury to Liput, the starting QB.

With Freeport losing to Valley, however, the Buccaneers and Yellowjackets tied for the conference title at 7-1.

However, Burrell fell to Mount Pleasant Area in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, as the Bucs concluded with a mark of 8-2.

Individually, Bush compiled 230 carries for 1,794 yards, caught 12 passes for 210 yards, and notched 33 touchdowns, which ranked third in the entire WPIAL. He was also a First-Team All-State honoree at linebacker.

“When you’re 6-foot-2, 230 pounds and committed in the weight room, that goes pretty far,” Bush noted. “I think a lot of my success in high school was physically I was blessed.”

Bush quickly turned his attention to basketball, and helped engineer a season that will live in Burrell lore for decades to come. The Bucs enjoyed a strong regular season, including an 8-2 mark in the section. In the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, however, Burrell had an unbelievable run to the title game.

“If my success in football senior year was shocking, I could’ve never guessed that,” Bush said of his accomplishments on the hardwood.

Burrell featured five senior starters, with Bush, Pete Spagnolo, and Matt Hess among the standouts.

“It was obviously nice to have all that experience. A lot of us had been playing together since third grade,” Bush detailed. “I certainly didn’t have much offensive finesse. I think I prided myself more on the defensive side.”

After cruising past Beth-Center in the preliminary round of the postseason, Burrell upset Washington in the first round, and followed with a stunning win against Greensburg Central Catholic in the quarterfinals. The Bucs then outlasted Quaker Valley to punch their tickets to the championship matchup.

While Burrell ultimately was overmatched against powerhouse Beaver Falls in the championship, the environment at the AJ Palumbo Center was something Bush and his teammates will always remember.

“It felt like a completely different level, playing in that environment. To be in that game was awesome,” said Bush, who recalled from his youth going to WPIAL title games and watching players like TJ McConnell.

In the 61-33 loss to the Tigers, Bush and Spagnolo each tallied 14 pieces, accounting for nearly all of the scoring for the Bucs.

A week later, Burrell’s season ended with a PIAA loss to Bishop McCort. The Bucs finished at 19-8, but became the first Burrell team in decades to reach the title game.

“(I was) very fortunate my senior year to be part of a lot of success,” he said. “That just doesn’t happen at Burrell. We’re not a basketball school, by any means.”

Fittingly enough, Bush and some of his former teammates and coaches were in attendance this year when the Bucs came up just short of winning WPIAL gold against Deer Lakes at the Petersen Events Center.

After his graduation from Burrell, Bush matriculated to Saint Francis University, joining the Red Flash as a running back in 2013. However, during his first practice, he was told to study the playbooks for running back, tight end, and H-back, a clear indication that a position change was on the horizon.

“Thinking back, I probably should’ve known I’m not the archetype of a Division I running back,” Bush stated.

As a freshman, Bush appeared in seven games, hauling in three passes for 71 yards. He suffered an injury late in the campaign that prematurely ended a frustrating inaugural college season for Bush.

“When you’re going from having like 20, 30 carries a game in high school to freshman year of college I touched the ball three times total, that’s kind of a shock to the system,” he revealed.

Although Bush played in 10 games and recorded seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown in 2014, he continued to be plagued by injuries and questioned his future on the gridiron.

“A lot of long conversations with my parents and the support system around me and it was like ‘what are you really doing this for,”’ he intimated. “I didn’t have whatever it is that you need to be successful at that level. I really didn’t have the fire anymore.

“I do not look fondly back on my college football experience,” Bush revealed. “I didn’t really want to go to college to play football. That’s just kind of what the expectation was given the success I had in high school.”

However, Bush still cherishes many of the relationships he made while playing college football, noting that one of his teammates officiated his wedding a few years ago.

“I wouldn’t change that for the world,” he said of the bonds formed on the gridiron at Saint Francis.

Despite his decision to walk away from football, Bush remained in Loretto to continue his education. He graduated a semester early with a degree in business.

“My experience there, outside of football, was fantastic,” Bush said. “I never even heard of it before being recruited in high school and it was just 60 miles away from my house growing up.”

During the summer prior to his graduation, Bush interned with Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina. A year later, he was hired there as a commercial banker.

A few years later, Bush relocated with Bank of America to Charleston, South Carolina, where he lived just a dozen minutes away from the beach.

During that time, Bush began dating his future wife, Jamie. Bush was wrapping up a weekend back in Pittsburgh and had a few hours remaining before his flight back to Charleston, and he used the time to go to lunch with her.

“We were friends, but we were never really romantically connected (in high school),” he noted of his Burrell classmate. “Next thing you know, she’s coming down to visit, I’m coming to Pittsburgh to visit.”

As the relationship developed, they were married in October 2022. A month later, Bush moved back to Western Pennsylvania, and he and Jamie currently reside in Stanton Heights.

Bush has maintained his role with Bank of America throughout.

“I was fortunate that in the beginning of 2022, there was a job opening on the Pittsburgh team,” he said.

Earlier this year, Jamie gave birth to their first child, Brody.

“It’s been awesome to see him grow,” Bush said of his 4-month-old. “I know this time is very precious.”

While his days of high-level athletic competition are behind him, Bush has maintained his weight training, and he also enjoys golf. Additionally, he has significant culinary interests.

“I hate the word foodie, but I like to cook and try new restaurants,” he stated.

Boosted with his return to the area, Bush has maintained strong relationships with many of the classmates who he suited up with on the football field and basketball court at Burrell.

“The core group that I’ve been spending time with since high school, I don’t see it changing anytime soon,” he said.