ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥

Yet she wasn’t formally allowed to actually hold the job until Thursday.

Under ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ procedure, head coaches for major sports at the state’s universities must have their contracts approved by the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Board of Regents, typically at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Burke was hired just before the Regents’ April meetings were to begin, so she wasn’t put on the agenda until this week’s meetings at UA’s Grand Challenges Research Building.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ signed Burke’s term sheet on April 9 after hiring her away from Buffalo but her full contract wasn’t approved until her agenda item came up on Thursday.

“It’s different than any other process I’ve been a part of anywhere that I’ve been prior to this,� Burke said. “But it hasn’t stopped us from doing our job every day at a high level. This is just a formality. It’s something that’s very important, so I made sure I was here today and gave my best foot forward.�

It wasn’t a problem for anyone. Burke’s five-year deal, which will pay her $675,000 next season, was unanimously approved by the Regents and without any of them asking questions. Burke instead gave a short speech in which she expressed appreciation for the opportunity.

Then she went back to work. Already, Burke has brought in 12 players around the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™ one returner, forward Montaya Dew, whose future is uncertain after she reinjured her surgically repaired knee late in 2024-25.

The newcomers include four freshmen and eight transfers, the first of whom was former Buffalo guard Noelani Cornfield, who played for Burke at Buffalo. The freshmen include two former Buffalo commits, Molly Ladwig and Daniah Trammell.

Burke still has two more roster spots she can fill but is keeping them open, at least for now. That gives Burke additional room to build a 2026 recruiting class with players she will have had more time to evaluate and recruit, or use sooner to take advantage of any sudden opportunities.

“We’re getting pretty close to being done,� she said. “We’ve left a couple roster spots so we have some flexibility to sign somebody late or bring somebody in mid year, potentially. But we didn’t want to sign a full 15 players in our first year and sign kids just to sign them. We wanted to bring everybody in that was going to be impactful right away for us this first year, so we can get through our first recruiting full cycle next year.�

Since walk ons are no longer allowed under new 2025-26 guidelines, lightly recruited or developmental players would have to fit under the 15-player limit, but Burke said she isn’t going after those sorts of players anyway.

“Everybody we brought in we expect to be able to make an immediate impact for us,� Burke said. “And we need that this first year, given what we walked into here.�

With the immediate recruiting needs behind her, Burke now gets a chance to start coaching. She said her players were moving in this week and next, with offseason practices scheduled to start the week of June 23.

But the quick transitions from hiring to recruiting to coaching haven’t left her a whole lot of room for anything else.

“There won’t be any time to breathe anytime soon,� Burke said. “Now that our players are getting here, we’re moving into practice. But we’re in our house, we’re settled, we’re happy here in Tucson. It’s actually been absolutely incredible.�