Blue Star Operations

Duffy Burns

Duffy Burns came to Blue Star Basketball in 2007 with over 20 years of basketball experience. Most recently Burns came from the University of Toledo after three seasons In two seasons working with the Rockets' post players, he helped mentor Diana Reindl to MAC All-Freshman Team honors and Savannah Werner to West Division Player of the Week accolades on two occasions. Burns is an integral part of establishing our Coaching Carousel & Commitment Corner on our homepage.

Burns came to the Rocket program after working as an assistant coach for two seasons at Ball State (2003-05). Prior to his stint at Ball State, he served as head coach at Cleveland State for eight seasons (1995-03).

While at Ball State, Burns worked with the post players and served as the program�s recruiting coordinator. He was also heavily involved in scheduling, scouting and team development.

A 1985 graduate of Ball State, Burns returned to his alma mater after serving as head coach at Cleveland State. While at CSU, he directed the Vikings to a 103-122 overall mark and four semifinal appearances in the conference tournament, including the school�s first-ever championship berth in 2000. His 103 wins rank second in the program�s history.

Burns, whose 1995-96 team finished first in the nation in three-point shooting, tutored three Kodak All-America candidates, nine all-conference performers and one Horizon League Player of the Year. Twenty-seven of his players earned Horizon League Academic All-Conference accolades, while four of his teams were named to the Women�s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top-25 with an all-time high ninth-place finish in 1997-98.

Before becoming Cleveland State�s head coach, Burns served six different stints as an assistant collegiate coach. After earning his degree from Ball State, he spent the 1985-86 season as assistant men�s coach at Illinois State. He moved to Pittsburgh as assistant men�s coach for the next two seasons. In 1988, he was assistant men�s basketball coach at Massachusetts under then-head coach John Calipari. He went to Central Connecticut State as a men�s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 1988 through 1990. From 1990 through 1994, he served as assistant women�s basketball coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Connecticut. He came to Cleveland State in 1994, where he spent one season as assistant women�s basketball coach before taking over the head coaching position.

While attending Ball State, Burns earned a bachelor of science degree in business education and spent three seasons as an assistant varsity coach at Wapahani High School in Selma. He was also a volunteer assistant for the BSU men�s basketball program in 1984-85.

Burns is an active member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Women�s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and currently serves on the WBCA Kodak All-American Committee. He also has served on the WBCA Board of Directors, where he represented the Male Coaches of Women�s Basketball, was a conference captain for three years, was a USA Today Top 25 Poll voter for four years, was on the Francis Pomeroy Naismith Committee for one year and a Division I representative on the Carol Eckman Award Committee.

He and his wife, reside in Ohio with their family. Duffy is also the overseeing director of the Toledo Elite Travel Team Program - http://www.toledoelite.com/