
Phone: | 401/863-2383 |
Email: | Jean_Burr@brown.edu |
Position: | Head Women's Basketball Coach |
LIZ TURNER '98 COACHING CHAIR FOR WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Head Coach Jean Marie Burr enters her 26th year at the helm of the Brown women's basketball program. The winningest coach in Brown basketball history (men's and women's), Burr has compiled 15 winning Ivy League seasons, including four League Titles from 1991-94 and 2006.
Burr's mentality of strong teamwork, dedication and community
involvement have helped produce some of the most prominent Brown
alumnae. From U.S. attorneys to professional athletes, Burr has
coached a string of winners on and off the court. She coached 2004
Joslin Award winner Miranda Craigwell '04, who also received the
David Zucconi '55 Fellowship. Burr has also strived for her players
to be closely involved in the local community, as her teams have
participated in numerous fundraisers and programs throughout the
years, including a twelve-year relationship with the Vartan
Gregorian Elementary School at Fox Point in Providence.
Burr helped put the Bears on the road to success in just her first
year at Brown. Despite inheriting a 6-20 team in 1988-89, she
quickly turned things around. The Bear's 16-10 record that
year was their best mark since winning back-to-back Ivy
Championships in 1983-84 and 1984-85. The turnaround established
Brown as one of the most improved teams in the country and Burr was
honored as the Converse District I Coach of the Year.
Over the next two years, Brown finished second in the Ivy League
standings, including a 19-7 mark in 1990-91, which broke the school
record for wins in a season at the time.
In 1991-92, Burr led the Bears to their first Ivy League Title
since the 1984-85 season with record-breaking 22-4 overall and 13-1
Ivy records. Brown had a total of five players selected to the
All-Ivy teams and for the fifth consecutive year, the Ivy Rookie of
the Year.
The Bears began the 1992-93 season as the preseason favorite for
the first time in Burr's tenure. There was constant pressure
to perform, as Brown became the team to beat in the Ancient
Eight. Burr, an excellent motivator, prepared her team for
this completely different mental challenge. As a result, the Bears
brought home their second straight Ivy title after defeating
Harvard in a hard-fought 87-81 overtime battle in Cambridge.
Burr was honored by the Rhode Island sports media for her
outstanding year by being selected as the 1993 Rhode Island Female
Sports Coach of the Year.
Her team continued to rise to higher levels in the 1993-94 season,
capturing its third consecutive Ivy championship, and winning a
playoff game against co-champion Dartmouth to earn the Ivy League's
first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears finished
the regular season with an 18-9 overall record and an 11-3 Ivy
mark. In Brown's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance,
Burr's squad quieted a sold-out crowd in Storrs, Connecticut, as
the Bears took a 35-35 tie into the locker room at the half and
held a second-half lead against the first-seeded UConn Huskies. The
final score, however, found eventual "Elite Eight" finisher UConn
on top of the feisty competitors from Brown, 79-60. For her
excellence in coaching, Burr was again voted the Rhode Island
Female Sports Coach of the Year.
After building a foundation of top-ranked players and further
developing their talents, Burr led her team to a third place finish
in the Ivy League in the 1994-95 season. The Bears finished 12-14
overall, including impressive wins over Ivy champion Dartmouth and
runner-up Harvard, making them the only team in the Ancient Eight
that defeated both teams.
During the 1995-96 campaign, Burr guided her young squad to a
10-16 overall record, and a 7-7 league mark, as the Bears tackled
one of their most competitive schedules in history. Five of
Brown's opponents qualified for the NCAA tournament and one saw
postseason action in the NIT.
In the 1996-97 season, Burr guided a young team with no seniors to
great heights as the underdog Bears took the Ivy League by surprise
and finished with a 15-11 overall mark, and a 10-4 showing in the
league, good for second place. Burr's recruiting abilities
were evident again, as she witnessed the emergence of a gifted
rookie class, including another Ivy Rookie of the Year, Burr's
fifth in her nine-year career.
For the 1997-98 season, Burr's squad sustained injuries to key
players, yet she was still able to put together a 7-7 mark in
league play and an 11-15 overall ledger. The team improved the
following year, finishing 12-14 overall and 7-7 in Ivy League
action.
The 1999-00 season marked the beginning of a difficult time for
the Bears as they struggled over the next three years with losing
records. Brown's 4-10 Ivy mark in 1999-00 was the team's first
losing season since 1987-88 and the first ever for Burr. In the
2000-2001 campaign, the Bears went 10-17, with a 5-7 Ivy League
record. Things didn't get any easier for the Bears as it finished
with a 5-22 overall and 2-12 Ivy record, the team's worst finish in
its 30 year history.
In one of the biggest turnarounds in Brown and Ivy League history,
the Bears jumped from last place to second place in the league,
tripling its victory output from the previous year. To the surprise
of many, Brown closed out the season with a 15-12 overall and 9-5
mark in the Ancient Eight. "That season showed what can happen when
people really pull together," says Burr.
The Bears continued to improve in 2003-04, matching its 9-5 Ivy
mark from the previous year and racked up a 16-11 overall record.
Brown recorded victories over all seven Ivy opponents for the first
time since the 1993-94 season.
In 2004-05, Burr led Brown to a record-breaking 18-9 season. The
team's 18 wins were the third most in the programs history and the
most since the 1993-94 season. The Bears placed two on the All-Ivy
First Team for just the fifth time in Brown basketball (men's and
women's) history. In addition, Burr was named the Rhode Island
Division I Coach of the Year. In 2005-06, Burr led her Bears to
another Ivy League title with a record of 19-10, 12-2.
Sarah Hayes '06 was named the Ivy's Player of the Year and Colleen
Kelly '06 was named to the All-Ivy Second Team. Though the
team has not captured a league title in recent years, Burr has
guided three players to the Ivy League's All-Rookie team.
Lindsay Walls '10 received the honor in 2007, Sadiea Williams '11
in 2008, and most recently Lauren Clarke '14 in 2011.
Coach Burr has an extensive and varied coaching and athletic
background. Before coming to Brown, Burr was an assistant
coach at Fairfield University for three years.
A 1977 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Burr earned a
degree in business administration. After graduation, she
spent one year as an assistant coach at Davidson College and then
played professional basketball for the New Jersey Gems of the
Women's Basketball League, and was a member of the first draft in
women's professional basketball. She became an assistant
basketball coach and head volleyball coach for Amherst College as
well as a graduate assistant for softball at the University of
Massachusetts, where she earned a master's degree in sport
management in 1982. She later served as women's athletic director
and head basketball and volleyball coach at Bethany College in West
Virginia for three years before moving on to Fairfield.
In addition to her passion for coaching winning teams, Burr has
served on the Board of Directors for the Women's Basketball Coaches
Association (WBCA) and is a member of the National Association of
Basketball Coaches and the Women's Sports Foundation. A national
lecturer and a great motivator, she was recently honored with her
selection into the University of New Hampshire Athletic Hall of
Honor as well as the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Burr resides in Coventry, Rhode Island with her husband, Peter,
and their four daughters; Judee Lena , Jessica Marie, Joanna
Christine , and Jenna Rose.
305 | Career Wins |
178 | Ivy League Wins |
51 | All-Ivy League Honorees |
15 | Winning Seasons (at Brown) |
9 | First Team All-Ivy selections |
6 | Ivy League Rookies of the Year |
4 | Ivy League Championship |
2 | Ivy League Players of the Year |
1 | NCAA Tournament Appearance |
* Brown's all-time winningest basketball coach * Converse District 1 Coach of the Year (1985) * Rhode Island Female Sports Coach of the Year (1993, 1994, 2005, 2012) * Received first scholarship at the University of New Hampshire * University of New Hampshire Athletic Hall of Honor * Drafted to play professional basketball * New England Basketball Hall of Fame * Coached one Olympic Athlete |