Profiling Louisville women’s basketball alum, and current USC Upstate head coach, Becky Burke.
Maryland Assistant Coach and Kentucky native Jeff Walz became Head Coach of Louisville in 2007 after the departure of Tom Collen. In his first year at the helm, Walz took Louisville to their first-ever Sweet Sixteen. The following year Walz would bring in his first-ever recruiting class, which would be the best class to ever come into the program at the time. This class would include Monique Reid, Tiera Stephens, Gwen Rucker, Mary Jackson, Janae Howard, and Becky Burke.
Becky Burke would come to Louisville from Abington Heights High School in Pennsylvania. Burke was named Pennsylvania Class 4A Player of the Year by the AP. Burke was also First Team All-State and earned WBCA High School All-American honorable mention. During her career, Burke led Abington Heights to four 20-win seasons and was a McDonald’s All-American nominee her senior year.
In her career at Louisville, Burke would average 10.7 ppg, 2.7 RPG, and 1.4 APG. Burke would shoot 39.6% from the field, 38% from three-point range, and 84.8% from the free-throw line.
Reid and Burke would be the only members of Walz’s first recruiting class to stay their whole career with the program.
Burke was the first 4-year player with the program under Walz as Reid was hurt her senior season. Burke was also part of the first Louisville women’s basketball team to make the Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Championship game.
Becky Burke’s career after Louisville
Becky Burke became the first 4-year graduate under Jeff Walz. After graduating, Burke played one season of professional basketball overseas in Poland before coming back to the states.
Burke began her college coaching career as the Director of Basketball Operations at Cal State Fullerton during the 2013-14 season. She then landed on the bench as an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s College for the 2014-15 season.
After the 2014-15 season, Burke began her college head coaching career. Burke would start the basketball program at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. In her first season as the ERAU head coach, Burke would lead the team to a winning record. Burke’s second season coaching the Eagles, they would be ranked nationally in the NAIA top 25. ERAU would finish the season 21-6 and 11-3 in conference.
Burke then moved on to take the head coaching job at DII University of Charleston Golden Eagles. In her first season at the DII level, Burke would lead Charleston to a 25-7 record. Burke led UC into the top 25 and they made their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014.
In her second season with Charleston, she would lead the team to a 23-7 record while having some All-conference players along with the MEC Freshman of the Year.
During the 2019 season, Burke would be named to the WBCA 30-Under-30 list while being the only head coach on the list.
In June of 2020, Burke got her first shot at the D1 level, and when she was named the head coach at USC Upstate. This made Burke the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I basketball. During her first year as USC Upstate head coach, Burke would compile an 8-15 record and went 5-11 in conference.
Upstate saw a major turnaround in Burke’s second season as head coach. The team would go 22-8 with a 14-4 conference record.
She was also named BIg South Coach of the Year.
The 2008-09 team was full of dogs
As I talked with Coach Burke on Off The Walz, we got into the comparison of teams. I told her when I had Coach Walz on the podcast he said his two best teams were the 2018 and 2020 seasons.
I asked Burke how that 2008-09 team would stack up against them with Mo Reid, Angel McCoughtry, Candace Bingham, and herself. Burke said, “Our team wasn’t as talented. We didn’t have any McDonald’s All-Americans like they did. Our team was full of dogs though. We couldn’t beat them on talent, but if they called fouls like they did in 08-09, then our team of dogs could beat them.”
The 2008-09 team was the first team in program history to make the Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Championship in a miraculous tournament run. The 2018 team lost in the Final Four after a horrendous non-foul call as Tiera McCowan fouled Myisha Hines-Allen on a fast break that would have potentially ended the game.
2018 would have more than likely been Coach Walz’s first national championship as they would have played a Notre Dame team in the championship game that they had owned that season. 2020 was equally as talented as the 2018 team. Their title hopes were dashed by COVID canceling the 2020 NCAA tournament.
The best Jeff Walz story ever
As I have been having former players on, I have tried to get some good Coach Walz stories. Mo Reid had a good one when I had her on which I thought was going to be hard to beat. That was until Becky Burke came on Off The Walz. I asked Burke for her story, and she recalled an all-timer from her freshman year. The story was about when she couldn’t grasp the concept of their mad dog press. As she kept messing up Coach Walz finally had enough, and the rest is… well, you’ll see.
Becky Burke is an all-time great Louisville player and the beginning of the Jeff Walz era. Burke has also become a terrific coach as she has a great understanding of the game. Burke is what the definition of a Cardinal Forever should be and is one to watch out for when the day comes for Coach Walz to retire or move on from the program.
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