SDSU Hires Burns to Coach Women’s Basketball Team

Beth Burns, previously an assistant at North Carolina State, was introduced Wednesday as coach of the San Diego State women’s basketball team and promised to bring an exciting style of play with her.

“Our style of play will never change, and that will up-tempo,” Burns said. “We want to make it an exciting brand of basketball in which we push the ball up the floor. We want to have 95 feet of defensive effort and hustle all the time.”

Burns, 31, was introduced at a morning news conference also attended by Jayne Hancock, SDSU associate athletic director. Burns replaces Earnest Riggins, who was fired May 22 after compiling a 118-67 record in six seasons.

The job is Burns’ first as a head coach. She also was an assistant at Colorado, East Carolina, Ohio State and Ohio Wesleyan and comes to SDSU with a reputation as a strong recruiter.

Burns said that in addition to her other coaching duties, she will remain active in recruiting. She said she would concentrate those efforts within California, calling the state a “gold mine” and noting that most of the top players she attracted to Colorado were from California high schools.

Burns was selected from a field of more than 70 applicants and was one of three finalists interviewed on campus. The other two were not identified, but one is known to have been Marianna Freeman, an Iowa assistant who visited SDSU last week.

Burns takes over a program that had both success and trouble under Riggins. Academic difficulties over the years rendered several top players ineligible, and the program now faces a possible National Collegiate Athletic Assn. investigation into the circumstances that led to Riggins’ dismissal.

Athletic Director Fred Miller, who is on vacation and did not attend the news conference, said previously that Riggins was fired after the university discovered a violation of NCAA rules. Miller said the university has sent a report on the incident to the NCAA and is awaiting a reply.

Burns said that while she is aware of past problems, she is committed to building the program with players who have demonstrated an ability and willingness to master college-level academics. She said she would not fill her roster with community college players in an effort to give the program a “quick fix” and said the SDSU administration has assured her she will be given time to mold things to her liking.

But Burns said she realizes she faces a rebuilding job. The Aztecs must replace their front line, which was led by All-American center Chana Perry. And one of their best candidates for the job, Terri Mann, is recovering from her second knee operation in 16 months.

Mann, who led Point Loma High School to four consecutive state championships, transferred to SDSU from Western Kentucky after injuring her knee during her freshman season and undergoing reconstructive surgery. She sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules and underwent a second knee operation in April.

She is eligible to play for the Aztecs in December, but her status will depend upon her rehabilitation and academic progress, Hancock said.

Burns is a native of Chatham, N.J. She was a four-year starting forward at Ohio Wesleyan, and was team captain her junior and senior seasons.

She began her coaching career as an assistant at Ohio Wesleyan in 1979 and moved to Ohio State as a graduate assistant in 1980. The next season she went to East Carolina, where she spent two years before joining Colorado in 1983.

She left Colorado last season to join Kay Yow, the U.S. Olympic coach, at N.C. State.

Burns said she expects to name her two assistants by Aug. 1.