Florida soccer's first coach, Becky Burleigh, was among nine who were inducted into Florida Athletics Hall of Fame tonight. 2024 Florida Athletics Hall of Fame inductees (from left) - Marcin Cieslak, Elizabeth Beisel, Preston Tucker, Chas Henry, Becky Burleigh, Hannah Rogers and Francesca Enea. Not pictured: Genevieve LaCaze and Scottie Wilbekin
Becky Burleigh Enters Florida Athletics Hall of Fame
Friday, October 18, 2024 | Soccer
Florida soccer's first coach, Becky Burleigh, joined Florida Athletics Hall of Fame tonight as an honorary letterwinner.
Below is her profile in the event's program:
Becky Burleigh - Honorary Letterwinner
2024 Florida Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
As a teenager, Becky Burleigh and her brother started a lawn-service. They did it for money, but it didn't take long before Burleigh wanted their lawns to be the best in the neighborhood. She took the same high-performance mindset to later jobs at Burger King and Publix, staying late to clean the place spotless for the morning shift.
Over-delivering was in young Becky's DNA.
And it was also in Coach Becky's achievements. At the age of 21, Burleigh was hired as head soccer coach at Berry College in Georgia and in her five seasons won two NAIA national championships. The rapid-fire success at such a young age caught the eye of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who was searching for someone to build a program from scratch after the Southeastern Conference added women's soccer.
Burleigh, 26, was hired in 1994, UF soccer debuted in the fall of '95 and — in one of the greatest something-from-nothing stories in Division I sports history — won the 1998 national crown by upsetting No. 1-ranked North Carolina, winner of 14 of the previous 16 titles, in the NCAA championship game.
How's that for over-delivering?
Over the course of her 26 seasons on the UF sideline, Burleigh's teams went 431-154-23, for a winning percentage of .709. Throw in her four seasons at Berry and Burleigh's 513 wins ranked second-most among D-I coaches when she retired in 2021 as one of just two women in NCAA history to reach the 500-win milestone.
Wrapped inside all those victories were 14 SEC regular-season championships, another 12 league tournament titles, 22 NCAA appearances (including 15 straight from 2003-17), two Final Fours and that stunning run to the national crown, plus 37 All Americans and another 174 SEC Honor Roll selections.
All this from a program that did not exist when Burleigh arrived in Gainesville.
The aforementioned numbers, however, are only part of the legacy Burleigh, the 2024 Hall of Fame class's Honorary Letterwinner, left behind. Ask the coaches and support-staffers with whom she shared conversations in the hallways at Lemerand Center (a.k.a. "The Lem") or socialized with at holiday parties and tailgates. Burleigh loved and lived for the camaraderie among her brother and sister coaches and immersed herself in what became known as the "Team Florida" way.
Though out of coaching for three years, Burleigh's impact at UF continued as an adjunct professor in the College of Health & Human Performance, where she taught a 15-hour master's course she created called "What Drives Winning" that focuses on character development, behavior management, priority alignment, team dynamics and self-awareness. Now living in Colorado, Burleigh is still teaching the class online.
She led (and won) from the sidelines, then led (and won) from the front of a classroom. That's a lot of over-delivering for this Gator Great.
View the 2024 Hall of Fame Class
Below is her profile in the event's program:
Becky Burleigh - Honorary Letterwinner
2024 Florida Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
As a teenager, Becky Burleigh and her brother started a lawn-service. They did it for money, but it didn't take long before Burleigh wanted their lawns to be the best in the neighborhood. She took the same high-performance mindset to later jobs at Burger King and Publix, staying late to clean the place spotless for the morning shift.
Over-delivering was in young Becky's DNA.
And it was also in Coach Becky's achievements. At the age of 21, Burleigh was hired as head soccer coach at Berry College in Georgia and in her five seasons won two NAIA national championships. The rapid-fire success at such a young age caught the eye of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who was searching for someone to build a program from scratch after the Southeastern Conference added women's soccer.
Burleigh, 26, was hired in 1994, UF soccer debuted in the fall of '95 and — in one of the greatest something-from-nothing stories in Division I sports history — won the 1998 national crown by upsetting No. 1-ranked North Carolina, winner of 14 of the previous 16 titles, in the NCAA championship game.
How's that for over-delivering?
Over the course of her 26 seasons on the UF sideline, Burleigh's teams went 431-154-23, for a winning percentage of .709. Throw in her four seasons at Berry and Burleigh's 513 wins ranked second-most among D-I coaches when she retired in 2021 as one of just two women in NCAA history to reach the 500-win milestone.
Wrapped inside all those victories were 14 SEC regular-season championships, another 12 league tournament titles, 22 NCAA appearances (including 15 straight from 2003-17), two Final Fours and that stunning run to the national crown, plus 37 All Americans and another 174 SEC Honor Roll selections.
All this from a program that did not exist when Burleigh arrived in Gainesville.
The aforementioned numbers, however, are only part of the legacy Burleigh, the 2024 Hall of Fame class's Honorary Letterwinner, left behind. Ask the coaches and support-staffers with whom she shared conversations in the hallways at Lemerand Center (a.k.a. "The Lem") or socialized with at holiday parties and tailgates. Burleigh loved and lived for the camaraderie among her brother and sister coaches and immersed herself in what became known as the "Team Florida" way.
Though out of coaching for three years, Burleigh's impact at UF continued as an adjunct professor in the College of Health & Human Performance, where she taught a 15-hour master's course she created called "What Drives Winning" that focuses on character development, behavior management, priority alignment, team dynamics and self-awareness. Now living in Colorado, Burleigh is still teaching the class online.
She led (and won) from the sidelines, then led (and won) from the front of a classroom. That's a lot of over-delivering for this Gator Great.
View the 2024 Hall of Fame Class
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