Lady Viking Basketball

RICO BURKETT

 

Head Coach

This will be my second season as the head girls basketball coach, my fourth year teaching in the Alternative Education Department at Northwest.  Last year our program finished 11-13, losing a tough game vs. Hastings in the district semi-finals.  I also spent two seasons with the Northwest boys program.  I have over 20 years of collegiate basketball coaching experience, I spent 9 seasons as the head men’s basketball coach at Wayne State College.  I also spent 12 years as an assistant men’s & women’s assistant basketball coach at Wayne State College, Stetson University and the University of North Dakota.

 

At the University of North Dakota, I was a standout point-guard from 1989-91.  As a senior, I was named the North Central Conference Defensive Player of the Year.  As a junior, I set the UND single season assist (232) and steals (75) records.  During my two years UND career, I helped the Fighting Sioux to a 57-11 record.  UND won two NCC conference titles and two trips to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, finishing third in 1989-90.

 

Before I attended UND, I played two seasons at Iowa Central Community College, where I helped captain the Tritons to a regional title and a berth in the junior college national tournament in 1988-89.  I graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education/secondary education.

 

My wife, Mandy and I have two children, daughter Taryn (13) and son, Marcus (9).