Burnett's Southwest Missouri assistant Lynette Robinson now has joined her in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. This classic photo shows them together - and the top comment on Facebook is about Burnett's "intensity." She had it as a player, as a coach - and if someone dared to go after that hair, it probably would heighten. Yet what a great close-up look of short hair looking risky, yet precise.

What if Cheryl faced a wind threat? This Facebook photo may be the closest we've ever seen, outside a sunflower field. The breeze blows the hair back, but not a lot - yet one section of bangs remains in place above her eye. We doubt much would change if we turned Cheryl around. Her teams may have lost at times, but her Super-Hair simply never does.

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2016 Update

Cheryl is now a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted in 2015, with a bust showing her unbeatable short hair in short sections with one strip of bangs across the forehead. Cheryl's real look on that day wasn't much different - perhaps with more bangs all around.

How close can her current hair come to collapse? Perhaps the most dramatic shot is this one from Facebook in January 2015. Bangs almost fill her forehead - but they're certainly not long enough to fall in her eyes.

Cheryl watched one of her most famous players receive a retirement honor from Missouri State during early 2016. Jackie Stiles is now a Missouri State assistant coach - and Burnett's bangs seemed flipped back a bit, although they probably don't need to be.

While Burnett remains on Facebook, she's also quietly added a Twitter feed. It seems to be entirely retweets from others - but it's worth following, just in case she ever dares to post a weak hair moment.

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2014 Update

Cheryl could have a made basketball coaching comeback in 2013. The Missouri State women's job was open, but she turned down an invitation to apply for it. She's apparently happy to be Director of Development at the university foundation - and we're very happy to see she now has a Facebook account. So far her pictures seem more historic than current. But the historic photos show classic great hair - and this one posted in October 2013 shows she still has a short style, cut in pieces with bangs to be low-maintenance and precise.

While Burnett played college ball at Kansas, there's now a jersey in her honor in the rafters at Missouri State's arena. She talked about that honor in early 2013 with Springfield, Missouri's newspaper, and showed perfect hold with a short light-banged style. We can see here a look Burnett will take into old age -- and she'll probably take it there still perfectly unbeaten.

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2012 Update

Cheryl's change of career path apparently is permanent. In mid-2012, she was one of six "Directors of Development" at Missouri State. So she's in offices a lot, and on the court very little. This official campus photo indicates her hair still could handle either situation -- as short hair remains layers around the face, then perhaps sprayed back for secure hold.

Cheryl gave a talk on women's basketball history in February. It showed how short the layers near her eyes are. If they were real bangs (as in our Crown Award category), they wouldn't even touch her eyebrows.

In short, her reputation for hair perfection seems to be restored -- especially since the best recent video we could find is a coaching clinic from several years ago. If you prefer Burnett's hair a bit longer, the clip will impress you. Her styles simply play great defense, under any pressure.

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2010 Update

Cheryl has returned to the university where she gained coaching fame -- now known as Missouri State, without the Southwest. Instead of coaching, she's involved in financial development programs. But she still conducts basketball camps for young people. A Springfield TV station attended one in late 2008, and showed Cheryl with short layers and bangs. One layer is above the right eye, clearly long enough to drop down -- but she apparently used some critical curling to keep it in place.

By comparison, we were stunned by this look in a documentary prepared months earlier on the history of "Lady Bear basketball." For some reason, Cheryl appeared with a strip of hair dangling down near the right eye. Such sloppiness is rare for her (compare it with the older photo behind her), and we don't understand why the producers permitted it. Yet as far as we know, the hair never has dropped completely on camera.

The entire one-hour public television program is posted on YouTube. Look for Cheryl beginning at about the 13-minute mark, with plenty of pictures of perfect styles from her coaching career.

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2008 Update

Despite her winning reputation at Southwest Missouri, Burnett was unable to turn around the Michigan program. She "retired" in March 2007, in perhaps a nice alternative to being fired. But her hair apparently remained undefeated to the end. This rather-distant game picture shows what we consider her best length, with hair either tucked back or with the potential of being tucked behind the ears for control.

A timeout on the floor gives us a good look at the other side of the style. There seems to be a bit of layering, to provide a slightly messy-looking yet well-controlled and natural look.

Burnett remains in retirement -- and we wish we knew where, so we could ask her all sorts of hair questions. You can see her in a small measure of action, by ordering a basketball video where she teaches the "scramble defense." Her great defensive approaches to hair control continue to impress us.

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2006 Update

Michigan women's basketball is doing so poorly (0-17 in the Big Ten this past season) that few people apparently are bothering to take pictures of coach Burnett's style nowadays. This presumably current one from a Michigan Sports web site shows a bit shorter look from a couple of years ago -- and even slicked down a bit, for her.

This early 2005 look is shorter still, and an action shot during a game. We're indebted to a basketball blog called She's Got Game for it. The blog author compared Burnett here to theater dance master Bob Fosse. We're not exactly sure why, but the natural curl in Burnett's hair comes to her aid again for style control.

To our knowledge, Burnett's amazing unbeaten run with hair continues -- but we hope things turn around at Michigan quickly, or she may be consigned to basketball videos again.

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2004 Update

After taking a year off from coaching, Burnett returned to college basketball in 2003-04 at Michigan. She came back with a surprising style change -- hair reaching for the neck, as long as we've ever seen it on her. How much longer is this style?

Long enough that she has to tie it back at times for control! (We think this picture was taken after a practice session.) A reliable, solid short head of hair now appears very beatable -- but we must emphasize we have not seen those dangling strands in her eyes. (Note the curl at the ends to keep the strands out.) If anyone has, we'd appreciate hearing from you.

Your best source for current Burnett pictures these days might be the Michigan sports web site -- though when we searched, there didn't seem to be many.

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2002 Update

This coach's hair has adjusted well to changing times and style trends. This photo was taken during the 2001-02 college season, showing a bit softer version of the look on our main page. There's a bit of curl, but not a lot -- but it's still well-sizzled into position. We're not sure the bangs on her left side are long enough to fall, if the spray wears out.

We don't know what Burnett's future holds -- nor does she. She resigned as Southwest Missouri State's coach in April, saying she was "stepping out in faith." We wish her well, and hope her hair remains faithfully in position whatever she does. In the meantime, a big Burnett fan has a web site with pictures of this coach's playbook of hair "sets." (And even a link to us.)

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