Michigan women hire former SMS head coach

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan introduced former Southwest Missouri State coach Cheryl Burnett as its new women's basketball coach Monday.

Burnett replaces Sue Guevara, who resigned on March 24 as Michigan's winningest coach with a 123-82 record over seven seasons.

Burnett resigned from Southwest Missouri State almost a year ago as its most-successful coach -- with a 319-136 mark -- after leading the program to the Final Four twice from 1987-2002.

Burnett left in part because she said, "I want to run a Top 25 program, not a mid-major." She was out of coaching this past season, after withdrawing from consideration to be Minnesota's coach last May.

"I am very excited to take over the head coaching duties at one of the top academic and athletic collegiate institutions in the country," Burnett said Monday.

Burnett, who coached WNBA standout Jackie Stiles, was known at Southwest Missouri State for her demanding coaching style that often included foot stomping and shrill whistling.

The Lady Bears had just five winning seasons before Burnett arrived in 1987. She led the them to their first Gateway Conference regular-season title in 1990 and their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1991. Southwest Missouri State made their first trip to the Final Four after winning 31 games in 1992, and another in 2001.

Last year the Wolverines were 13-16 overall and tied Northwestern for the worst record in the Big Ten with a 3-13 conference mark.

Men's basketball

UNLV assistant Derek Thomas was hired Monday as head basketball coach at Western Illinois, taking over a program that has lost 20 or more games in three of the last four years.

Four years after being let go at Iowa, Tom Davis is returning to coaching as the basketball coach at Drake. Drake announced Davis' hiring and will formally introduce him at a news conference today. Davis is the career victory leader at Iowa with a 269-140 record in 13 seasons. He was told before the 1998-99 season that his contract would not be renewed when that season ended. He has been out of coaching the past four years.-- From wire reports