UF Women’s
Soccer Coach
Becky
Burleigh: A Role
Model for Her Players
and the Community
By David Greenberg
Photography by David Johnston, Johnston Photography
If the tall, blonde woman tooling around Gainesville on that Vespa motor scooter looks like University of Florida soccer coach Becky Burleigh, you don’t have to do a double take.
More than likely, it is Burleigh.
“I love my scooter,” she said, with a smile on her face that seems to be there all the time. “It is the favorite thing I own. I am trying to limit my carbon footprint. Besides, it is a scooter-friendly town.”
The smile is not surprising, and is definitely genuine. Burleigh seems like a person who really enjoys what she does, and where she is doing it.
What she does is coach a women’s soccer team that is annually one of the best in the country. She came to Gainesville in 1994 to start the team in 1995. Judging by the athletic achievements alone, her tenure has been a smashing success.
As a team, her squads have won an NCAA championship (1998) and multiple SEC championships. As a coach, she has earned coach of the year honors several times – 1998 NSCAA/adidas National Coach of the Year, 1998 College Soccer Weekly National Coach of the Year and 2000 & 1996 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.
In 14 seasons of coaching, Burleigh has compiled an overall record of 311-83-26 (.771) and her 311 wins already places her No. 4 among Division I coaches (all-time and active) for career victories, and the only woman among the top 10 on either list.
Burleigh has coached 13 NSCAA/adidas All-Americans, 11 NAIA All-Americans, 24 All-SEC players, 79 student-athletes on the All-SEC Academic Honor Roll, five CoSIDA Academic All-Americans with seven honors and five... click here to read more>>