Arizona Women’s Basketball head coach Becky Burke has announced the addition of Todd Starkey to her coaching staff as associate head coach.
Starkey brings more than 25 years of collegiate coaching experience including the past 10 seasons as head coach at Kent State University.
“We are thrilled to have Todd Starkey join our coaching staff here at Arizona,” Burke said. “He is an incredible basketball mind, relationship builder and human being. Our goal is to compete for Big 12 Championships and recruit the best players in the country, and with the addition of Coach Starkey we have put ourselves in position to do so. I am grateful that a coach of Todd’s caliber has decided to come be a Wildcat.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to join Coach Burke and her staff! Her competitive passion for the game is unmatched and inspiring! I am very grateful to the Kent State community for all of their incredible support over the past 10 years,” Starkey said. “I look forward to bringing the same passion to pursue championships to Arizona and Coach Burke’s staff! Bear Down…Go Cats!!”
Starkey spent the past 10 seasons leading the Golden Flashes program and finished his tenure as the second-winningest coach in school history with a 179–127 record. During his time in Kent, he guided the program to an NCAA Tournament appearance, four Postseason WNIT berths and two Mid-American Conference East Division titles.
Kent State recorded four 20-win seasons under Starkey’s leadership, including 21 victories in each of three consecutive seasons from 2021–24. In his first season with the program, Starkey was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year after leading one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I women’s basketball.
Prior to Kent State, Starkey spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Indiana University Bloomington, helping guide the Hoosiers to the 2016 NCAA Tournament and the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1983.
Starkey previously served as the head women’s basketball coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University from 2005–14, where he became the winningest coach in program history with a 165–95 record. During his tenure, the Bears won three conference championships and made multiple NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, including No. 1 seeds in the Southeast Region in 2009 and 2014. Starkey was named the WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year in 2009.
Starkey began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Lenoir-Rhyne from 2003–05 after five seasons as an assistant men’s coach at Montreat College.
A respected voice in women’s basketball nationally, Starkey has served on numerous committees within the sport, including the WBCA Executive Board and several NCAA ranking and awards committees.
Starkey earned his bachelor’s degree in outdoor education from Montreat College.
