Burke
Leading the University at Buffalo to a record-breaking and championship season paid off immediately for Abington Heights graduate Becky Burke.
Within days of leading Buffalo to a women’s National Invitation Tournament title and a record-setting 30th win, Burke was named April 9 as the 10th head coach of the University of Arizona women’s basketball team.
“Our model centers around identifying head coaches who prioritize success in coaching, recruiting and the development of high-character student-athletes,” Arizona director of athletics Desiree Reed-Francois said in announcing the hiring. “Coach Burke is a proven program builder and rising star in collegiate women’s basketball with a track record of transformational success. She is familiar with the Wildcats and the tight-knit community we have in Tucson.”
Burke coached Buffalo for three seasons. She won 19 games and reached the Mid-American Conference Championship game in her second season.
“I would like to thank President (Suresh) Garimella and Desireé for this wonderful opportunity to lead Arizona women’s basketball, a program with such rich tradition,” Burke said. “Wildcats’ fans fully understand the role that elite culture plays in building a program that wins championships. Our staff will be ready to make that a reality as we call Tucson home.”
Arizona went 10-8 in the Big 12 and 19-14 overall in the 2024-25 season.
Burke, a 2008 graduate, scored 2,162 points in her four-year career at Abington Heights. She averaged 25.7 points as a senior and was named Pennsylvania Class 4A Player of the Year by the Associated Press.
From there, Burke started in an National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national championship game as a freshman at the University of Louisville where she went on to score more than 1,000 career points.
Burke is continuing a quick and steady rise through the coaching ranks.
After serving as director of basketball operations at California State Fullerton and assistant coach at St. Joseph’s College for one year each, Burke launched her head coaching career in Arizona.
Burke started the program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, posting a winning record in the first season and reaching the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Top 25 with a 21-6 mark in her second season.
The only head coach on the 2019 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association 30-Under-30 list, Burke was busy bringing the University of Charleston in West Virginia into NCAA Division II contention. Her team went 25-7 in Burke’s first of two seasons, making national rankings and the program’s first national tournament berth in five years.
Burke’s first stop at the NCAA Division I level was at the University of South Carolina Upstate where her team improved 14 wins in its second season to a Division I-era school record of 22 wins.
