Paws Up Podcast - Episode 104: Feat. Jesyka Burks-Wiley
Jesyka Burks-Wiley enters her sixth season at FIU after being named the head coach in April 2020. Burks-Wiley is the eighth head coach for the FIU women’s basketball program.
In her first season at FIU (2020-2021), Burks- Wiley led the Panthers to a 15-13 record, the first winning season of the program since 2012-2013. The Panthers made it to the second round of the Conference USA Championships and finished with an 8-8 conference record.
In the 2021-2022 season, Burks-Wiley guided the Panthers to another 15 win campaign finished with a 15-16 overall record. With a 6-12 conference record, FIU made it to the second round of the C-USA tournament and defeated their in-state rival Florida Atlantic University, 68-60, in the first round.
In 2022-23, the team took a small step back, ending the year with a 14-19 overall record, but won one more game in CUSA-Play from the previous season with a 7-13 record. The Panthers fell in the first round of the Conference USA tournament to Charlotte, but would win two games in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) against UIC and North Dakota.
The 2023-24 season was the best campaign of the Burks-Wiley era, and one of the best seasons in FIU history, going 21-12 overall and 11-5 during conference play, most overall wins since the 2011-12 season and most conference wins since the 2012-13 season. FIU lost in the first round of the CUSA tournament but would be granted a spot in the WNIT, beating Stetson at home in the first round before losing to Troy on the road to conclude the season. The team's performance earned Burks-Wiley her second CUSA Coach of the Year award.
The 2024-25 season saw the team end with an 11-19 overall record and a 7-11 CUSA record, good for a sixth-seed berth in the conference tournament. The Panthers saw three players earn All-CUSA honors, including Newcomer of the Year, First-Team All CUSA, Second-Team All CUSA and CUSA All-Freshman Team.
Before FIU, Burks-Wiley spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the South Florida Bulls. FIU is the sixth coaching stop for Burks-Wiley, as the former professional forward has spent time at Nebraska-Omaha (2012-13), UMass-Lowell (2013-14), Brown (2014-16), Boston College (2016-17) and USF (2017-20).
During her three seasons on Jose Fernandez’s staff at USF, Burks-Wiley and the Bulls won 64 games and earned two postseason berths with a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and the WNIT in 2019. The highlight year for Burks-Wiley and the Bulls came in her first season on the staff, as USF went 26-8 in 2017-18. The 26 wins for USF were the third-most of Fernandez’s 20-year tenure.
“I could not be any prouder and more excited for Jesyka,” Fernandez said. “I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Athletic Director Pete Garcia and the job he has done with FIU athletics and giving her the reigns for the basketball program. As a graduate 94’ from FIU, the women’s basketball program is a sleeping giant. There is so much opportunity and potential for Jesyka to lead the women’s basketball program in C-USA. To compete at the national level and for a conference championship. The area is a hot bed for recruiting. I believe in her experience and ability to engage and lead young women academically and athletically. She will prepare them for life after FIU and bring an unbelievable excitement on campus. Her attitude and energy level is contagious. It’s a great day to be a Panther.”
Burks-Wiley spent two seasons at Brown University as an assistant coach and director of player development. While at Brown, Burks-Wiley worked closely with the Ivy League’s unanimous Rookie of the Year, Shayna Mehta, whom she recruited from San Francisco. In her first season at Brown, Burks-Wiley helped the Bears finish second in the Ivy League in scoring (65.5 points per game) and first in the league in steals (10.1 per game). She coached a pair of All-Ivy players in Sophie Bikofsky ’15 and Jordin Alexander ’16 while helping the Bears notch their first road sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth since Feb. 26-27, 1993.
Burks-Wiley spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UMass-Lowell, helping the Riverhawks’ transition into full-time Division I athletics. Prior to Lowell, Burks-Wiley joined the Nebraska-Omaha staff as an assistant for the 2012-13 season, guiding the Mavericks to a 17-11 record overall in only their second year of Division I play.
A 2009 graduate of Boston University, Burks-Wiley boasted a standout career for the Terriers, becoming one of only eight players to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their career. A stellar final campaign saw the co-captain average 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, propelling her to America East Player of the Year honors and a Region I finalist for the 2009 State Farm Coaches’ All-America Basketball Team.
The Kansas City, Missouri, native took her talents overseas after graduation, beginning with Romania ICIM Arad before making stops in the top leagues in Finland and Portugal. She concluded her professional career in Belgium, leading the Castor Braine squad to the second round of the league’s playoffs as the team’s leading scorer.
