The Burleigh Way Consists of Fun and Winning
Friday, August 19, 2011 | Soccer, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Becky Burleigh bobblehead doll is encased in a protective cover on a shelf above the desk of the flesh-and-blood Burleigh. A Billy Donovan bobblehead stands next to it.
The Donovan bobblehead was once a fan giveaway at a Gators men's basketball game. Burleigh's bobblehead is more of a rarity.
“There's only one,'' Burleigh said. “They started to make a run of them but the company went out of business. I have the one and only.''
The Gators soccer coach laughs at the misfortune of her miniature likeness. Not even her parents, Ron and Nancy, perhaps Florida's two biggest soccer fans since the program's first game in 1995, have a bobblehead version of their daughter.
If there's one thing Burleigh is good at other than coaching one of the nation's top soccer programs, it's her ability to laugh at herself. As the 43-year-old Burleigh opens her 17th season this weekend with games at Miami on Friday and Florida International on Sunday, there have been two constants: winning and doing it with a style all her own.
Both include a lot of laughter and what some might call free-spirited quirkiness.
“I definitely cannot say I've ever had a coach like her,'' senior defender Jazmyne Avant said.
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If you want a story that backs up Avant's claim, go back to last season's win over South Carolina in the regular-season finale.
The Gators beat the Gamecocks 1-0 on a Friday night in Columbia to clinch their fifth consecutive SEC regular-season title. After returning to Gainesville for a short night's sleep, a few hours later Burleigh stood on a stage in a parking lot outside EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
As thousands tailgated prior to the annual Florida-Georgia football game, Burleigh was the life of the party in her little corner of the world, serving as the DJ of a contest between rival fans getting revved up for the game.
First-year Florida football coach Will Muschamp talks a lot about doing things the Florida Way. Over at the soccer complex, there is the Burleigh Way.
“I like to have fun,'' Burleigh said of her side skills as a DJ. “I have a high tolerance for making a fool of myself I guess. I don't really worry a lot about what other people think about me – obviously within reason.
“I've always been able to poke fun at myself and that's an easy trait for me.''
Burleigh's eclectic music tastes have served her well over the past few years since she started DJing, with most of her turns at the turntable coming at weddings of friends or former players, the annual UAA Christmas party and other events where Becky is just being Becky.
When the Gators show up for practice, they know “DJ Becks'' will have her iPod plugged into the speakers at the field. It's Burleigh's way of having fun and getting serious at the same time.
“I just think it's funny,'' Avant said. “I don't think most coaches would have the same music selection as all the players on their team.''
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Burleigh's non-traditional methods may not be for everyone, but there is no questioning whether they work. Burleigh's teams have won more than 77 percent of their games in 21 seasons under her direction, the last 16 years at Florida.
She started her coaching career at Berry (Ga.) College, where she won two NAIA national titles and quickly earned a reputation as a young up-and-coming coach in women's college soccer. A year after recording 12 shutouts in her final season as a goalkeeper at Methodist University in North Carolina, Burleigh took over at Berry and led the Vikings to the NAIA championship game.
That's when Ron Burleigh, Becky's father, began to realize the little girl who used to play on the field across the street from their Tarpon Springs home might be able to make a decent living in the game she loved.
She obviously had a knack as a leader.
“As you can see, Becky stayed with it,'' Ron said. “That's where it began for her.''
Ron moved the family to Florida – Burleigh has two older brothers, David and Robbie – when Becky was 10. The year Becky was born Nancy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
The family's path toward Florida was starting to take shape.
“The cold weather was a real problem for her,'' Ron said. “At a certain point when our kids were soon going to high school, we thought if we were going to move, we should pick that time so they would get the full four years in high school.''
So Ron and David packed up the family's belongings and headed to the Tampa Bay area. Ron moved without a job, so he and David lived in Tampa for a short time while he found work. Nancy, Becky and Robbie remained in their native Massachusetts until everyone finally resettled in Tarpon Springs on the Gulf coast.
As fate would have it, a local soccer league was starting up on the field across the street from their home and that's where Becky and her brothers began to spend most of their time.
When they weren't playing in games, they would hold their own shootouts in the backyard. Becky was usually the goalkeeper, trying to stop shots between two orange trees serving as goalposts.
“We would pretend she was one of the guys,'' said Robbie, who now lives in Miami and plans to attend both Florida games this weekend. “We would pound shots at her left and right between those two orange trees. She is very independent and very tough.
“That probably has a lot to do with me and my brother.''
David and Robbie often tested their little sister. Before moving to Florida, the family lived on a 26-acre farm in Hubbardston, Mass. They had horses and spent most of their time outside wandering around, climbing trees and playing pick-up baseball games with local kids.
One story Robbie remembers as probably helping Becky form such an independent streak happened one day while he and Becky road their horses. Whenever the horses heard pans rattling in the barn, they knew it was time to eat.
So before heading out for a ride, Robbie told David to sneak into the barn and rattle the pans once Becky was on her horse.
“Those ponies took off flying and she was screaming on top of hers and couldn't get down,'' Robbie said. “We were always doing things like to her.''
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As she got older and started to carve out her own niche, Becky usually was on a soccer field. She showed an interest in the game beyond most of her friends, not only playing at Tarpon Springs High, but also working as a referee on weekends at youth soccer games.
By the time college rolled around, Burleigh decided to go to Methodist and play for head coach Joe Pereia despite not a having a scholarship offer. She liked the way Pereia coached and it was while at Methodist she started to develop some of the methods she now uses at Florida.
“He liked to argue and I liked to argue, so that made a good match,'' Burleigh said.
She also displayed a team-first attitude that she now tries to instill in her players. While she wasn't one of Methodist's top players early in her career, she quickly made her mark as a team leader.
As a freshman, Burleigh discovered that a couple of her teammates were breaking team rules. Disturbed, she took the matter to the team captains. The players eventually faced disciplinary action, testing Burleigh's mental toughness that she developed growing up with two older brothers.
“For a long period of time, there was a large segment of our team that really disliked me,'' she said. “And it didn't bother me. I felt like, 'Then follow the rules.' I was really committed to our team.
“I don't think you can really be an effective coach if you don't have thick skin. Because obviously there's going to be a lot of times when people don't like you, whether that be your own players because of decisions you make, or opponents or whoever.''
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With her career off to a strong start at Berry, Burleigh had other opportunities to move up the coaching ladder prior to arriving at Florida. She turned down an opportunity to take over Old Dominion's program at one point, opting instead to remain at Berry.
The right job finally came along when she heard Florida was starting a women's soccer program in 1994. When she came down for her interview with UF athletic director Jeremy Foley and other UAA officials, Burleigh didn't need long to make up her decision.
“I'm a big believer in gut feeling when it comes to making big decisions,'' Burleigh said. “I was here in the morning and at lunch I got a little break. I remember calling some friends and I'm like, 'I'm taking this job if they offer it. I don't really need to see anymore.' I had probably been here all of two and a half hours. You could tell the commitment level.''
The decision to hire Burleigh proved a great one. In the program's fourth season, the Gators defeated traditional power North Carolina for the NCAA title, a team that included three players who would later represent the U.S. in World Cup play – Danielle Fotopoulos (1999), Abby Wambach (2003, 2007, 2011) and Heather Mitts (2011).
Erin Baxter McCorkle was a co-captain on the 1998 national title team. Coming out of high school in Colorado, Florida seemed a long way to go to play soccer. But once she got to know Burleigh, the decision became much easier.
The two remain close today more 16 years after first meeting. While Burleigh is funny and uses different methods to coach, her ability to form close bonds with her players might be her greatest strength according to Baxter McCorkle.
“She has had a ton of success with her teams, but more important, she has built relationships with her players that not all coaches take the time to do,” Baxter McCorkle said. “I think a ton of players would say the same thing. I think that is something unique she brings.''
That remains an important part of Burleigh's philosophy today. Burleigh's teams continue to compete on a national level, drawing some of the top prep players in the country. The Gators have dominated the SEC for most of her tenure.
“She was a big part of why I came here,'' said Florida freshman Annie Speese said. “She is very knowledgeable of the game obviously and she has had great success. She's not just a coach. She's going to be part of our family, too.''
Part of the Burleigh Way is building a family atmosphere around her teams. At Halloween, the team dresses up in costumes at practice. At alumni events it's often Burleigh telling the best stories. Her office is decorated in pictures of family, former players and friends.
Burleigh's yellow lab, Cody, is part of that family, often hanging out on the couch in her office as she meets with players and her assistants. Burleigh even purchased a sidecar to attach to her scooter recently so Cody can ride around campus with her, decked in his riding shades of course.
The Burleigh Way might be unconventional, but it's perfect for the owner of the only Becky Burleigh bobblehead doll in the world. Seventeen years after she arrived, Burleigh remains one of a kind among the UF coaching fraternity.
“She is doing something right,'' Baxter McCorkle said.
“It's a long time. It feels like it's gone by like that,'' Burleigh said with a snap of her fingers. “I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun.''
