Cheryl Elaine Burnett (born June 13, 1958) is an American former women's college basketball coach and player. She was the head coach of the

Southwest Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

women's basketball team from 1987 to 2002. At Southwest Missouri State, she compiled a 319–136 record () and led her teams to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in 1992 and 2001. She also served as the head coach of the

Michigan Wolverines women's basketball The Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associati ...

team from 2003 to 2007, compiling a record of 35–83 (). She played college basketball at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

from 1976 to 1980.

Playing career

Burnett is a native of

Centralia, Missouri Centralia is a city in Boone County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 4,541 at the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 4,244 in 2018. A very small portion of the city lies in Audrain County. The Boone County portion of ...

. She played basketball at Centralia High School where she was selected as an All-American during her senior year. Burnett received a scholarship to play basketball at the

. She was the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to that university. She was a starter at the guard position for the

Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball The Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team represents the University of Kansas and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are coached by Brandon Schneider. The Jayhawks have failed to match the success of the men's te ...

team for all four years from 1976 to 1980. In 1977, she was selected as a

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

All-Tournament player.

Kansas statistics

Coaching career

Early years

Burnett was drafted to play professional basketball by the

New Jersey Gems The New Jersey Gems was a franchise that played in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL), one of only three teams in the league to survive through all three seasons, from 1978–79 to 1980–81. The team made the league playoffs once, lo ...

of the

Women's Professional Basketball League The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...

. She opted instead to pursue a career in coaching. In 1980, after graduating from Kansas, Burnett began her coaching career as an assistant girls' basketball coach at Lawrence High School in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

. In August 1981, she was hired as an assistant coach for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

women's basketball team.

Southwest Missouri State

In 1984, Burnett was hired as an assistant coach of the

women's basketball team in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. She became the head coach in 1987 and held that post for 15 years from 1987 to 2002. Her teams won nine

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

championships, received invitations to the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 Women's sports, women's college basketball teams from the NCAA Division I, Division I level of t ...

10 times, and advanced to the Final Four in 1992 and 2001. She compiled an overall record of 319–136 () at Southwest Missouri State. Players recruited and developed by Burnett include

Jackie Stiles Jackie Marie Stiles (born December 21, 1978) is an American college basketball coach who was formerly an assistant coach for the University of Oklahoma women's basketball team and at Missouri State University. Stiles set several scoring records ...

who set the NCAA career scoring record with 3,393 points. In April 2002, Burnett resigned her post at Southwest Missouri State, indicating that she intended to look for another job.

University of Michigan

In December 2003, Burnett was hired by the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

as the head coach of the

team. In four seasons at Michigan, Burnett compiled an overall record of 35–83 () and a record of 10–54 () against

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

opponents. Her teams lost 20 or more games in her last three seasons at Michigan and finished in last place in the Big Ten in 2005 and 2006 and in 10th place in 2007. She retired as Michigan's head coach in March 2007.

Honors

In February 2003, Burnett was inducted into the Southwest Missouri State Hall of Fame. In October 2009, she was also inducted into

Hall of Fame.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnett, Cheryl 1958 births Living people American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from Missouri Michigan Wolverines women's basketball coaches Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball players Missouri State Lady Bears basketball coaches People from Centralia, Missouri