Julie Brase-Hairgrove, who led Catalina Foothills High School to the 1997 state girls basketball championship and went on to coach 17 years in the WNBA, is expected to be hired to the coaching staff of new UA women’s basketball coach Becky Burke, the Star has learned.
Hairgrove, the granddaughter of Lute Olson, has been working for Long Realty in Tucson since leaving the WNBA three years ago.
Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines, left, and assistant coach Jule Hairgrove, go over a play during a time out in the second quarter against the Sacramento Monarchs in Sacramento, Calif., May 27, 2009.
From 1993-97, Hairgrove scored 2,913 points for Foothills, which remains a state scoring record for girls basketball. She played five years at Arizona, 1998-2003, before leaving to coach two seasons at Loyola Marymount.
Hairgrove, who is married to former UA and Flowing Wells High School football player Mike Hairgrove, then became a Phoenix Mercury assistant coach, winning the WNBA championship in 2007, 2009 and 2014.
She was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
People are also reading…
Regarding her coaching staff, Burke said after her introductory news conference last Friday that “I gotta probably keep it on lock until we have our whole staff ready to be announced.â€
Asked specifically whether she needed to have a coach with West Coast ties, Burke, who’s from Pennsylvania and primarily has coached east of the Mississippi, said: “Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s very important.â€
New Arizona women's basketball coach Becky Burke delivers her opening remarks at an introductory news conference on Friday, April 11, 2025, at McKale Center. (Video by Michael Lev / ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV)
Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at GHansenAZStar@gmail.com. On X(Twitter): @ghansen711
Greg Hansen
Columnist
Bold Becky Burke eagerly embraces her latest challenge at Arizona | Michael Lev
