The 2013-14 campaign will be Gwen Burton's 11th as an assistant coach for the Chicago State women’s basketball program.
Burton has served as the team’s recruiting coordinator since 2005, in addition, to working with the team’s guards, scouting of opponents, overseeing student team managers, fundraising, on-court/off-court coaching, monitoring weekly academic progress, including developing the team’s strength and conditioning program. During her tenure at CSU, Burton has coached several players who captured all-conference accolades, including five All-Great West Conference honorees over the past few seasons.
The Cougar guards have thrived under Burton as evidenced by the numbers alone. Courtney Waldon, a recruit from Wisconsin, finished her illustrious career in 2010-11 as Chicago State’s all-time leading scorer with over 1,500 points. One of Chicago State’s all-time greats, Waldon ranks in the school’s top 10 in several categories including first in 3-pointers made and attempted. Waldon was named Great West Conference Player of the Year and First Team All-GWC in 2010-11 after ranking first in the league in scoring. Waldon also finished her career ranked ninth in 3-point field goals per game and 11th in 3-point field goal percentage in the country. Burton also coached Tressa Beckel, a recruit from Minnesota, who finished her career in 2010-11 with awesome highlights. Beckel was a Great West Conference Honorable Mention, was picked on the Great West Conference pre-season second team, and landed a spot on the First Team after leading the GWC in scoring (17.7 ppg) and was second in rebounding (8.1 rpg). She concluded her career by being the first CSU player to earn all-tournament honors in a Division I national postseason tournament when she was selected to the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) all-tournament team in 2011. Beckel is now playing professionally in Poland.
Burton has made the transition to Division I basketball for junior college player Caila Desroches, a recruit from New York, seamless. She recruited Desroches to strengthen the Cougars’ bench scoring and rebounding edge. In 2010-11, Desroches received GWC Sixth Woman of the Year Honors and was named GWC Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) after scoring a career-high 25 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the title game versus North Dakota. She is now playing professionally in Australia.
This past season, Burton witnessed Detroit recruit Janay Dockery score over a 1,000 points, named to Great West Conference First Team and GWC Defensive Player of the Year. Dockery also was ranked 13th in the country in steals per game with an average of 3.2 per game.
In her third and fourth seasons as Chicago State’s recruiting coordinator, Burton helped coach Chicago State to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history. She recruited Jasmin Dixon, a guard from Detroit, who finished as one of the top players in program history while earning Independent and Great West Conference Player of the Week honors during her career. Burton also helped the Cougars defeat Utah Valley in the first-ever GWC conference game played on Jan. 9, 2010.
Prior to working at CSU, Burton served as an assistant coach for the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Blizzards of the now-defunct National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL) where she was in charge of scouting, travel itineraries, and guard development. While working with the Blizzards, Burton served as head coach of Marygrove College, a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) in Detroit.
Prior to working at Marygrove College, Burton served as an assistant coach at Martin Luther King High School, located in her native Detroit. She helped King to consecutive Michigan Class A State tournament semifinal appearances. Burton also served as an assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach at Bishop Borgess High School out of Redford, Mich., from 1997-99 and she guided the Borgess JV squad to their first Catholic League Athletics title in 1999. In addition, Burton served as Head Coach at Bishop Borgess Academy 1997-99 and guided them to their first Catholic Youth Organization Championship in 2000.
Not a stranger to the collegiate ranks, Burton was an assistant coach at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a NAIA Division I school, from 1998-01.
The 1995 graduated from the University of Louisville, with a bachelor’s degree in Administration of Justice, played two seasons of basketball at Louisville (1992-94), one season at Allen County (Kan.) Community College under the late and former Oklahoma State University Head Women’s Basketball Coach Kurt Budke (1991-92), and one season at University of Detroit-Mercy (1990-91).
At Louisville, Burton was a two-year letterwinner as she helped the Cardinals capture the Metro Conference Championships and NCAA tournament appearance. Off the court, she was named to the Student-Athlete Honor Roll at Louisville. She also holds the Allen County school record for career three pointers made (120) and averaged 16 points a game in her lone season en route to helping ACCC to earning their first national ranking of No. 14th in the NJCAA Division I national poll.
Burton has her Bachelor of Science Degree in Administration of Justice and Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice.
