Arizona women’s basketball announced the addition of Emily Meinert to its coaching staff Wednesday, filling the program’s open performance enhancement assistant coach role as players prepare to arrive in Tucson for summer workouts. Head coach Becky Burke has continued assembling her staff ahead of the team’s move-in date this weekend, and Meinert will be on hand as the Wildcats begin their offseason preparations and conditioning work with student-athletes set to report.
Emily Meinert, Arizona women’s basketball’s new performance enhancement assistant coach, courtside and coaching during a game.
Meinert joins Arizona after spending the last two seasons working with the University of New Mexico women’s basketball program in a strength and conditioning capacity. Her most recent role focused on the physical preparation of women’s basketball student-athletes, a responsibility that placed her in daily contact with the team as it moved through gym sessions, training cycles and season-long conditioning programs. That experience with a Division I women’s basketball roster is one of the elements Arizona highlighted in announcing her hire.
Burke welcomed Meinert to the staff and emphasized the combination of hands-on experience and personal attributes she brings to the Wildcats. "Her experience working directly with women’s basketball student-athletes, combined with her energy, passion and commitment to player development, makes her a tremendous addition to our staff," Burke said in a statement from the program. The head coach framed Meinert’s arrival as a piece of the staff-building process that continues as the roster prepares to return to campus.
The performance enhancement assistant coach role added to Arizona’s staff is positioned to be a day-to-day resource for the team as it moves into the intensive summer phase of training. Arizona’s announcement points to Meinert’s hands-on work with players and her academic background as qualifications that equip her to contribute immediately to the program’s offseason schedule. In general, a performance enhancement coach in a collegiate setting will be closely involved in designing and implementing strength and conditioning plans, guiding athletes through gym sessions and training cycles, and helping maintain season-long conditioning, and Arizona’s description of Meinert’s previous duties aligns with those core responsibilities.
Before her stint at New Mexico, Meinert served on the strength and conditioning staff at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she was employed as a graduate assistant and assistant strength and conditioning coach. During her time at ULM she worked across multiple sports — women’s basketball and softball, as well as both men’s and women’s golf — gaining experience with athletes from varying disciplines and developmental stages. While fulfilling those duties, Meinert also completed a master’s degree in applied exercise science at Louisiana Monroe, combining academic study with on-the-job training. That mix of formal education and practical experience is one reason Arizona emphasized her academic training alongside her hands-on credentials.
Meinert’s own background as a player includes time spent at Northern Illinois University and at Parkland College, where she logged three seasons with NIU and two seasons at Parkland. Her collegiate playing experience was accompanied by early involvement with strength and conditioning operations: at Northern Illinois she assisted the strength and conditioning staff with daily operations and athlete development initiatives. That combination of being a student-athlete and participating in support operations provided Meinert practical insight into the athlete experience and the operational side of performance programs, a foundation that informed her progression into full-time strength and conditioning coaching roles.
The timing of Meinert’s hire comes as Arizona’s women’s program moves into the summer phase of its calendar, with athletes scheduled to relocate to campus for organized workouts. The addition of a performance enhancement coach at this point ensures the staff will have personnel in place to lead and oversee the physical preparation portion of the Wildcats’ offseason plan. Coaching staffs often expand and adjust in the weeks leading into summer programming; Burke’s latest hire is the latest staffing move intended to provide continuity and specialized support for the current roster as it transitions from offseason conditioning into sport-specific preparation.
Meinert’s résumé, as released by the program, traces a path from collegiate player to support staff and then into full-time roles focused on athlete preparation. That trajectory — working in strength and conditioning while simultaneously pursuing a graduate degree, then moving into operations and sport-specific performance work — is reflected in the positions she has held across the Midwest and the Southwest. Arizona’s announcement highlights those stops as part of the reasoning for bringing her into Burke’s staff structure, noting both the sport-specific experience with women’s basketball and the broader multi-sport work that broadened her exposure to different athlete needs and training environments.
With the Wildcats’ players set to arrive this weekend, Meinert joins a staff that is continuing to take shape under Burke’s direction. The program singled out her direct work with women’s basketball student-athletes and her academic training in applied exercise science as key qualifications. As the team transitions into summer workouts and the regular cadence of offseason preparation, Meinert will be responsible for contributing to player development through the performance enhancement role added to Arizona’s staff roster, providing a continuity of care for strength and conditioning as the roster cycles through training phases.
Social Media Reaction on X
Activity on X surrounding the hire has been minimal, limited largely to the official announcement shared by @ArizonaWBB and a modest number of reposts and likes from fans, former New Mexico and ULM staff, and professionals in the strength-and-conditioning community. No widespread discussion, notable initiatives, or high-profile responses have surfaced, and the initial reaction reflects a relatively low-profile reception typical for staff-level additions compared with roster moves or coaching changes that involve head coaches or marquee hires.