TOLEDO—Toledo St. Ursula Academy has named Ronald “Duffy” Burns as its head basketball coach.

Ronald “Duffy” Burns

Mr. Burns comes to St. Ursula Academy with 29 years of experience coaching both men’s and women’s college and high school basketball, including eight years as head coach at Cleveland State University.

Mr. Burns is a founder and director, with Steve Mix, of the Toledo Elite Basketball Club. Mr. Burns also is a national evaluator, event operator and consultant for Blue Star Scouting Service, and is director of the Toledo Blue Star Fall League. His most recent coaching positions include assistant girls basketball coach for Sylvania Northview High School and assistant womens basketball coach for the University of Toledo.

“This is the best job out there for a basketball coach,” he said. “St. Ursula has a good core group of players and there is lots of room for growth. My job is to make them better and turn SUA basketball into a social gathering that people really want to come to. The style of play is going to be different. We’ll play up tempo and aim to shoot 20 threes a night and score 55 a game.”

St. Ursula’s athletic director, Steve Parrill, is pleased with the school’s new hire. “We are fortunate as an athletic department and a basketball program to have hired a person of Duffy Burns’ caliber,” he says. “He brings great experience and knowledge of basketball and coaching female athletes. We are very excited about the future of St. Ursula basketball.”