Jean Marie Burr (2018) - Hall of Fame - Brown University Athletics

Jean Marie Burr

Induction:
2018

Jean Marie Burr spent 26 years at the helm of the Brown women’s basketball program from 1988-2014, amassing a program-best 324 wins. Her Bears compiled 12 winning seasons and captured four Ivy League championships, earning the league title in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2006.

Burr’s 1994 squad was the first Ivy League team to appear in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship as an automatic qualifier, facing the University of Connecticut in the first round.

Burr led Brown to 11 top-three finishes in the Ivy League and recorded her 300th career victory during the 2011-12 season. She earned Rhode Island Division I Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year Award honors four times.

Burr also coached two Ivy League Players of the Year – Martina Jerant in 1993 and Sarah Hayes in 2006, six Ivy League Rookies of the Year, eight First Team All-Ivy players and 15 Second Team All-Ivy honorees. Over the course of her career, Burr led the Bears to 15 winning Ivy League seasons. Burr’s hallmark was teamwork, academic dedication and community involvement as key pillars in the development of student-athletes.

In 1991-92, Burr led Brown to its first Ivy League title since 1984-85 behind a school record 22 wins and a 13-1 Ivy League record. Burr and the Bears proceeded to win the 1993 Ivy title with another 13-1 Ivy record before winning the Ivy title and making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 1994. Burr led the Bears back to the top of the Ivy League in 2005-06 behind a 19-10 overall record and a 12-2 Ivy mark.

Off the court, one of Burr’s greatest achievements was to help establish the Liz Turner ’98 Coaching Chair in the name of two-time team captain, Liz Turner. The endowment was created by Elizabeth ’59 and Malcolm Chace.

Burr was a three-sport athlete (basketball, volleyball and tennis) who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire in 1977. She went on to receive her master’s degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts in 1982.

Before coming to Brown in 1988, she had coaching stops at Davidson College, Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts, Bethany College and Fairfield University. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and is a member of the University of New Hampshire Athletic Hall of Honor and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. She is currently the CEO of Burr Basketball L.L.C.