chattanooga MOCS

Katie Burrows became the sixth head coach in the history of Mocs women’s basketball on May 25, 2018.  She spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant at UTC first with Wes Moore and then five seasons with Women's Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Jim Foster.

In four seasons with the Mocs, Burrows guided UTC to the 2019-20 regular season title, shared with UNCG and Samford. Chattanooga drew the No. 2 seed and earned the automatic bid to the WNIT Postseason. That year the all postseason play was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In her third season, she led Chattanooga to its 37th overall winning season.

In Burrows first season, Eboni Williams earned the first SoCon Freshman of the Year nod for the Mocs in 20 years and Lakelyn Bouldin was named the SoCon Ann Lashley Inspiration Award winner in 2020. UTC had five all-conference team members, five named to the all-defensive team, two on the all-freshman team and one all-SoCon Tournament selection.

In the 2021-22 season, the Mocs became the 39th program in NCAA Division I history to reach the 900-win plateau.

Abbey Cornelius earned all-conference second team honors. She was named the Southern Conference women's basketball Player of the Week twice and earned Student-Athlete of the Week honors two times as well. 

UTC posted an exciting double-overtime win over Samford in SoCon play with a last second shot made by Brooke Hampel. That capped off a four-game win streak for Chattanooga that included wins over ETSU, Western Caorlina and UNCG.

In a COVID-shortened season in 2020-21, she guided Chattanooga to its 37th winning season and placed three players on the SoCon all-conference teams. Abbey Cornelius and Eboni Williams earned all-conference and all-defensive team honors by the league coaches and were named to the all-conference second team by the league media. Bria Dial was a third team selection by the SoCon media.

In 2019-20, she returned the Mocs to the top of the Southern Conference as she led them to a 22nd regular season title, the most in league history by far. UTC earned the SoCon's automatic bid to the WNIT but were unable to participate when the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all postseason tournaments for basketball.

Lakelyn Bouldin was the 2020 recipient of the Ann Lashley Inspiration Award and earned all-conference honors along with teammate Bria Dial. NaKeia Burks earned a spot on the coaches' All-Defensive Team and Dena Jarrells was selected by the SoCon coaches to the All-Freshman Team.

In her first season at the helm, the Mocs finished third in the Southern Conference, a repeat from the previous season, and advanced to the semifinal of the SoCon Tournament. The Mocs posted an overall record of 14-17 and went 8-6 in league play. Chattanooga's non-conference schedule was one of the most grueling in the nation with a non-conference strength of schedule rating of five. UTC hosted Louisville, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and N.C. State, led by former Mocs' head coach Wes Moore who guided his team to 21 consecutive wins to start the season. The Wolfpack reached a ranking as high as seven in the AP Top 25 Poll and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Ten of Chattanooga's 15 non-conference foes earned postseason berths and two from the SoCon received bids. Eight of UTC opponents, including Mercer, advanced to the NCAA Tournament while Furman highlighted four foes in the Women's NIT.

Lakelyn Bouldin was named to the All-Conference Team for a second year and earned her second postseason recognition. She was selected to the SoCon All-Tournament Team for her performance in the Mocs' two games. Eboni Williams was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, UTC's fourth all-time and first since Heather Dykes in the 1998-99 season.
 
In her time as an assistant coach at Chattanooga, Burrows served on staffs for both Wes Moore and Jim Foster.  During that span, UTC advanced to the postseason seven times, with five trips to the NCAA Tournament following five Southern Conference titles. 

The Mocs posted an impressive overall record of 189-68 (.735) and a 112-22 (.836) mark in league play during her time as an assistant.

During Burrows’ tenure, the Mocs have had one SoCon Athlete of the Year, one SoCon Player of the Year, four Defensive Players of the Year, 20 all-conference picks and five SoCon Tournament MVPs.

The Mocs earned a top-25 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls in the 2014-15 season, following wins over No. 4 Tennessee and No. 7 Stanford.  UTC climbed as high as 17 in the AP Top 25 and 18 in the Coaches Poll.

Over the last eight years, the Mocs have defeated Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn twice each, Stanford, Villanova, Rutgers, Indiana, Northwestern, Georgetown and Florida. 

Taylor Hall (2010-14) became the first player in SoCon history to earn league Player of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Tournament Most Outstanding Player in the same season.

Jasmine Joyner (2013-17) earned back-to-back SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors and was named the SoCon Tournament MVP in 2015 and 2017. She finished her career at Chattanooga as the second player to top 1,000 points and 900 rebounds, and is eighth all-time in the NCAA with 436 career blocks.

Alicia “Red” Payne became the first Chattanooga player to earn back-to-back SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors (2015, 2016) and was named the SoCon Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2016.

“Based on our long history of success in women’s basketball, I felt it was necessary to conduct a national search,” added Wharton.  “I was pleased with the quality of individuals who were interested in our program and Katie was a strong candidate from the beginning. 

“That being said, she clearly distanced herself from an extremely talented pool of coaches.  She earned the chance to lead our women’s basketball program by clearly being the person for the job.”

A native of Lookout Valley, Katie came to Chattanooga in 2000 and was an integral member of four straight SoCon titles. In her time as a student-athlete at UTC, the Mocs posted an overall record of 102-23 with wins over such teams as Florida State, Alabama and Louisville. UTC advanced to the NCAA championships all four seasons.

In her senior year, the Mocs posted the nation's longest active winning streak at 27 games that culminated with a first-round win over Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament. In that game, Burrows sank the most memorable shot in Chattanooga history, nailing a 30-foot bank shot from the right side to spark a comeback win over the Scarlet Knights.

Katie earned a spot as among former head coach Wes Moore's Top 10 players in the celebration of "Moore in McKenzie, a Decade of Dominance". She ranks in the top 10 in UTC history in 3-pointers made (107) and attempted (315).

Prior to her return to UTC, Burrows was a coach and teacher at Ringgold High School for three years. She took over a program that had just three wins in the season prior to her arrival.  The Lady Tigers steadily increased their win total in each of her three seasons, culminating in Ringgold's first state playoff appearance since 1986 when the team lost to Rossville in the Class AAA finals.

Prior to that she was the head coach of the girl's basketball team at Tullahoma High School in Tullahoma, Tenn., from 2005-07 and taught health and physical education. Immediately following her graduation from UTC she was the assistant girls basketball coach at GPS from 2004-05 under former UTC player Susan Lance Crownover.

Katie attended Lookout Valley High School where she was named the Chattanooga Times Free Press Best of Preps Female Athlete of the Year.  She was a four-time first team Chattanooga Times Free Press All-City, three-time Region Player of the Year and first team all-state. She was named a Tennessee Class A Miss Basketball finalist in back-to-back seasons.

Katie learned her trade at an early age from her father Joe Galloway who was her high school coach. Joe serves on the Hamilton County School Board and, along with his daughter Kristen Clounch, is still coaching at Lookout Valley. Her brother Keith Galloway is married to former UTC standout Jennifer Wilson and the pair coach the boy's and girl's basketball teams at Hardin Valley Academy in Knoxville.

A 2004 graduate of Chattanooga, Katie earned a B.S. in Exercise Science and Health K-12. She is married to Nick Burrows. They are the parents of daughters, Jordan and Grace.

Updated: October 15, 2020

*The Mocs earned the SoCon's automatic bid to the 2020 WNIT but did not play when the postseason was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.