DeWayne Burroughs on reaching program win No. 899 with 81-73 victory over No. 8 Rio Grande
Following a historic season that saw Shawnee State win 28 games, win the River States Conference's East Division and outright regular season championship and obtain its first postseason victory in the NAIA National Tournament since 2021, women's basketball coach DeWayne Burroughs will enter his fifth season as the head coach of the nationally-renown SSU women's basketball program. Burroughs is the third person to lead the unit into action in what will be the program's 38th season of competition.
In Burroughs' fourth season at the helm in 2024-25, Shawnee State enjoyed a terrific year, going 28-5, winning the women's basketball program's 900th game in its history, and going through the River States Conference in a clean sweep of affairs in the regular season (16-0) that included a sweep of nationally ranked Rio Grande, its archrival, during the season.
After finishing as the RSC Championship Tournament Runner-Up, Shawnee State advanced to the NAIA National Tournament, where the Bears claimed an NAIA Opening Round victory over Loyola (La.), 70-62, to advance to the NAIA Second Round where Shawnee State gave No. 7 Cumberlands (Ky.) a battle before dropping a 71-66 contest. The season, which featured a 20-game win streak for the Bears, saw Shawnee State lead the RSC in defensive points per game (55.7) while finishing second in the RSC in defensive field goal percentage (36.5) and rebounding margin (plus-7.8).
Ultimately, Shawnee State won 20 straight games during the season -- and Burroughs had four individuals earn All-RSC honors, including Cianna Gloster and Miyoshi Ellis, who were each named First-Team All-RSC honorees, and sophomores Jariah Steele and Emily Maynard, who were each named as Third-Team All-RSC recipients.
In addition, Shawnee State continues to excel academically -- as the program, which holds a cumulative GPA consistently around the 3.3 to 3.4 range, produced the maximum amount of College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honorees as Gloster, Maynard, Steele and Lexi Deaver were each named to the list.
In his third year coaching in 2023-24, Burroughs led Shawnee State to its first 20-win season since the 2019-20 campaign as Shawnee State ultimately went 20-10. The Bears advanced to the River States Conference Semifinals, its second straight appearance in either the conference semifinal round or later -- and won 10 out of its last 12 games to advance to the RSC Semifinals. Burroughs did this while losing just two seniors off of the roster and having two additional players suffer season-ending injuries. Seven of Shawnee State's top 11 contributors were of sophomore or younger eligibility, including six freshmen. Holland and Jada Johnson were named as NAIA Scholar-Athletes, while Holland, Chianne Gloster and Sanaya Gregory were named as College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honorees.
Defensively, Burroughs led a defense that was the top-ranked River States Conference defense (60.1) by over five points per contest, and the nation's 32nd ranked scoring defense as a whole. The SSU defense was also elite from a field goal percentage perspective, as Shawnee State finished tops in the RSC (35.4 percent), as well as 20th in the NAIA.
Under Burroughs' tutelage, Cianna Gloster set the Shawnee State women's basketball program's single-season rebounding (373) and rebounding average (12.4) records. Cianna Gloster and Markayla Holland were ultimately named as Second-Team All-RSC honorees while Chianne Gloster was named as a Third-Team All-RSC honoree.Â
After a rebuilding year in 2021-22, Burroughs drastically improved the Bears from a 4-22 overall record to a 16-16 overall mark in 2022-23.
Shawnee State won nine out of its last 11 games and reached the Mid-South Conference Championship Game before falling by just four points to Tennessee-Southern (65-61) in that contest. Along the way, the Bears defeated three teams that were either nationally ranked or receiving votes in that 9-2 stretch, including Tennessee-Southern during the regular season and an 81-79 victory over Thomas More (Ky.) in the Mid-South Conference Semifinals. Thomas More ultimately went to the NAIA National Championship Game in its final season of competition at the NAIA level.
Kam Elzy, who served as Burroughs' starting point guard in each of his first two seasons at the helm, was named as a First-Team All-MSC talent after notching 16 points, 5.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game, while Marnae Holland earned Second-Team All-MSC honors by notching 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest on a 47.1 percent shooting clip. Tanisia Murphy nabbed Honorable Mention All-MSC accolades after posting 13.9 points on 45 percent shooting from the field.
Burroughs, a veteran with 25 years of coaching experience, is a former graduate of Coppin State who turned an opportunity to play baseball with the Eagles into a coaching career in the game of basketball.
A three-sport standout in high school, Burroughs made an immediate impact as an assistant for Coppin State very early in his coaching career, helping the 1990-91 Coppin State women's basketball program obtain its first-ever Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship in school history.
The unit ultimately finished the '90-91 season 19-8 and was inducted into Coppin State's fourth athletic hall of fame class in 2015.
That season later became a springboard for future success, as Burroughs later went 143-40 overall at three Baltimore-area schools -- Woodlawn High School, St. Paul School for Girls, and Northwestern High School. At Woodlawn, Burroughs won four Baltimore County Championships and three regional championships, with an appearance in the state semifinals and two appearances in the state championship.
Following his time coaching high school basketball, Burroughs made a successful transition as a college basketball coach.
In 2006, Burroughs got an opportunity to become an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for NCAA Division II Bowie State, rewarding the Bulldogs with a 95-45 overall record in his five seasons on staff. That mark included no less than 18 wins in any season during the five-year stretch, including a 22-5 overall record during the 2007-08 season.
Following a strong five-year tenure at Bowie State, Burroughs moved on to coach for the University of District Columbia, a fellow NCAA Division II member that was coached by Lester Butler.
Taking on the same tasks that he once held at Bowie State, Burroughs led UDC to a 77-38 overall record in four seasons under Butler before getting his first collegiate head coaching opportunity with UDC in the 2015-16 campaign following Butler's departure to coach the men's basketball program at Virginia Union.
In his first head coaching campaign with the Firebirds, Burroughs posted a 21-9 overall record before leaving to take the job at NCAA Division I Coppin State -- a position that Burroughs held from 2016 to 2020.
Burroughs is a 1991 graduate of Coppin State (B.S, Liberal Arts) and a 2010 graduate of the former Mountain State Academy in Beckley, W. Va. (M.S., Strategic Leadership). He is married to Tabby Rideout Burroughs and they are the parents of three children -- Kristina, Christopher and Stephanie.
