Methodist University Athletics

A student-athlete at Methodist from 1985-89, Becky Burleigh played on the Lady Monarchs' first four women’s soccer teams. She helped Methodist to a 55-19-4 mark (.731), four Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (DIAC) championships, three NCAA Division III tournament appearances and one trip to the 1988 Final Four. A defender her first three years and the team’s goalkeeper her senior season, the three-time First Team All-DIAC selection earned First Team All-South status in 1988. Her playing career also brought about induction into the USA South Athletic Conference Hall of Fame with the Class of 2015.

Burleigh eventually made the transformation from player to coach, taking the head job at Berry (Ga.) College. During her five seasons there, she posted an 82-23-6 (.766) ledger with the Vikings and led the team to a pair of NAIA national titles (1990, 1993). Burleigh went on to become the first women’s soccer coach at the University of Florida in 1994, and has since led the Gators to a 425-129-37 mark (.750) in her 25 years leading the program (through 2019). Her ongoing tenure includes 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, 22 NCAA Division I tournament appearances and a national championship in 1998. That season’s NSCAA/adidas and the College Soccer Weekly National Coach of the Year, Burleigh has also earned SEC Coach of the Year honors four times (1996, 2000, 2008, 2010). Her 425 wins at Florida are second most among active D-I coaches, and her .750 winning percentage is sixth among active D-I coaches.