Becky Burleigh

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Becky Burleigh
Personal information
Full name Rebecca Lund Burleigh
Date of birth (1967-10-13) October 13, 1967 (age 53)
Place of birth Tarpon Springs, Florida
Position(s) Defender, goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Orlando Pride (interim head coach)
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1988 Methodist College
Teams managed
Years Team
1989–1993 Berry College
1995–2021 Florida Gators
2021– Orlando Pride (interim)

Rebecca Lund Burleigh (born October 13, 1967) is an American soccer coach who is the interim head coach of Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League.

Formerly also a college soccer player, she is best known for her 26-year tenure as the first head coach of the Florida Gators women's soccer team at the University of Florida, where she led the Gators soccer team to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I national championship in 1998.

Playing career[]

During her collegiate playing career at Methodist College, Burleigh was a four-year varsity letterman in soccer for the Lady Monarchs, including Methodist's first four seasons as a varsity program.[1] During her four seasons of play, she helped Methodist to a 55–19–4 (.731) record, four Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (DIAC) championships, three NCAA Division III Tournament appearances, and a trip to the 1988 Division III Final Four.[1] Burleigh played defense for her first three seasons, and served as the team's goalie as a senior.[1] She was a three-time First-Team All-DIAC selection and earned First-Team All-South honors in 1988.[1] In 1999, she was inducted into the Methodist University Hall of Fame.[1] She played under Head Coach Joe Pereira, who went on to a successful career at Old Dominion University following his departure from Methodist. She attributes him as one of the people she admires.[2]

Coaching career[]

Berry College[]

In 1989, Burleigh was appointed head coach at Berry College, located in Mount Berry, Georgia.[3] She was offered the Berry job within weeks of her own college graduation, at the age of 21.[3] From 1989 to 1993, Burleigh compiled an 82–23–6 overall record during her five seasons at Berry, and her Lady Fury teams won two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championships in 1990 and 1993.[3]

Florida Gators[]

Burleigh was named the first head coach of the start-up Florida Gators soccer program on June 28, 1994.[3]

In 1998, in the Gators soccer program's fourth year of existence, Burleigh coached the Gators to their first NCAA national title by defeating the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels 1–0 in the final.[4] The 1998 Gators finished 26–1, their only regular season loss coming to the same North Carolina team that the Gators defeated in the NCAA championship final.[4] Players from her 1998 national championship team included All-Americans Danielle Fotopoulos, Heather Mitts and Erin Baxter.[4]

Burleigh's Gators played in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In conference play, her Gators teams won thirteen SEC championships, and ten SEC tournament titles, leading all other SEC teams since the Florida soccer team began play in 1995.[5]

Burleigh's later seasons were less successful, and she had losing records in two of her last three seasons as a head coach – the only losing seasons in her career. She announced she would retire at the end of the team's 2020–21 season,[6] which concluded with a 2-0 win over the Miami Hurricanes on April 3, 2021.[7]

As a head coach, Burleigh compiled an overall career record of 513–160–46, with a winning percentage of 0.745.[3] She ranks second in total number of all-time wins among Division I coaches.[3] During her tenure at Florida, Burleigh coached seventeen All-American players.[8]

Orlando Pride[]

On July 25, 2021 Burleigh came out of retirement to become the interim head coach of professional NWSL team Orlando Pride for the remainder of the 2021 season following the midseason resignation of Marc Skinner.[9]

Personal[]

Burleigh grew up in Tarpon Springs, Florida, where she began to play youth soccer at the age of ten.[3] She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in biology from Methodist College (now known as "Methodist University") located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1989.[3] In 1993, Burleigh earned her master's degree in exercise science from Georgia State University located in Atlanta, Georgia.[3]

Coaching record[]

As of September 5, 2021[10]
Head coaching record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
P W L T Win %
Berry College 1989 1993 111 82 6 23 073.87
Florida Gators June 28, 1994 April 3, 2021 608 431 154 23 070.89
Orlando Pride (interim) July 25, 2021 present 6 2 1 3 033.33
Career totals 725 515 161 49 071.03

Coaching honors[]

Berry College
Florida Gators
Individual

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e MUMonarchs.com, Methodist University Hall of Fame, Becky Burleigh. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.gainesville.com/article/20031117/MAGAZINE14/111170004?p=1&tc=pg
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i GatorZone.com, Soccer, Coaching & Support Staff, Becky Burleigh Archived 2011-04-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Pat Dooley, "Top 25 Gator teams: #5 1998 Women's soccer," Gainesville Sun (June 4, 2009). Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  5. ^ SEC Soccer Record Book, Southeastern Conference, Birmingham, Alabama (2010). Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  6. ^ "Burleigh Retiring at Season's End". Florida Gators. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  7. ^ "Becky Burleigh Era Closes with 2-0 Florida Win at Miami". Florida Gators. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  8. ^ 2010 Florida Gators Soccer Media Supplement Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 5–6, 58–69, 60, 62, 67 (2010). Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  9. ^ Poe, Julia. "Orlando Pride select celebrated Gators coach Becky Burleigh for interim manager". Orlando Sentinel.
  10. ^ "2017 Soccer Coaching Staff - Florida Gators". floridagators.com. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
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