LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock head swimming and diving coach
Amy Burgess has announced her decision to step away from the program after leading the team for 15 seasons. Burgess has spent a total of 16 years with the Trojans, and will be focusing on time with her family moving forward.
"It has been an absolute honor to be a part of Little Rock Athletics these past 16 years," said Burgess. "Words cannot express how every single swimmer and diver left an imprint on my heart that will be there forever. Thank you to everyone that blessed me with the privilege to be called Coach. It is a title I was proud to have."
"Big thanks to all those that provided support out of the water: donors, alumni, parents, support staff, friends and family...the list could go on and on," she added. "This journey would not have been possible without you. I am excited for the next adventure with my family, and will always cherish my time as a Little Rock Trojan."
Burgess has cultivated a program focused on growing stronger as athletes, students, and as a team. Over the past three years alone, the Trojans have broken eight school records, while all swimming records on the board have been set within the past eight seasons. It is nothing new for her: through her first four years as head coach, Burgess' swimmers had broken or tied a combined 48 school records.
Academic strength along with athletic prowess has also been a priority for the team under Burgess's guidance. Since joining the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) as an affiliate member in the 2013-14 season, 75 Little Rock swimming and diving student-athletes have received MVC Scholar-Athlete Team recognitions, one of the top honors of a student-athlete's all-encompassing abilities that the MVC can award.
Also thanks to Burgess's emphasis on strength in the classroom as well as the pool, the Trojans as a whole have been selected as an College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Academic All-American Team for 19 straight semesters.
She leaves a legacy of her own that will be difficult to replicate. In 2017, Burgess was inducted into the Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame. A native Arkansan with an extensive coaching career as well as athletic accomplishments as a star athlete at the University of Kansas, she has had a large part in growing and developing the swimming community on multiple levels in the state, including taking the only mid-major Division I women's swimming and diving program in the Natural State to new heights.
Through her leadership at Little Rock, Burgess has also been blazing a trail for women coaches in the sport. According to the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, only 40 women were in head swimming coach positions at Division I schools across the nation during the 2020-21 season, up from just 35 the year before. View the full report
here.
"It's been my pleasure to work with Coach
Amy Burgess here at UA Little Rock for the past 16 years," said Athletic Director George Lee. "She has done an outstanding job coaching and mentoring her students. I am sad to see her leave the University, but I wish her all the best in the future."
Assistant coach
Chris Pape has been named the Trojans' interim head coach as Lee works through the transition phase to select Little Rock's new permanent head coach.
For the latest information on Little Rock Swimming and Diving, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockSwim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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