The Burke File

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Education: Lindenwood (’07); Missouri ('19)
Playing Experience: Lindenwood (2004-07)

COACHING HISTORY

2014-17: K-State Assistant Coach
2017-19: USC Associate Head Coach
2019-23: Tulane Head Coach
2023-Present: K-State Head Coach

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2017 NCAA Championship (USC)
2018 NCAA Championship (USC)
2019 NCAA Championship (USC)
2022 NCAA Regionals (Tulane)
2025 NCAA Championship (K-State)

A championship-winning coach who has found success in just six seasons leading women’s golf programs, Stew Burke is in his third year as head coach at Kansas State in 2025-26.

Burke, a former K-State assistant coach who was named the Wildcats’ head coach on June 30, 2023, has hit the ground running in his two seasons in Manhattan, highlighted by the program’s first NCAA Championship appearance in 2024-25. The Wildcats, who made their first NCAA Regional appearance in eight years, tied for second place in the NCAA Lexington Regional to move on to the national championship. That came on the heels of finishing in fifth place in the Big 12 Championship, the first time the Wildcats had consecutive top-five showings in a conference championship.

The 2024-25 squad produced a program record 288.13 scoring average in addition to setting the top mark with seven top-three finishes, while the Wildcats’ nine top-five showings and two victories each tied for first place. K-State put together a 128-51-2 record in 2024-25, its most head-to-head wins since at least 2000-01.

A member of the final watch list for the Jackie Steinmann National Coach of the Year Award, Burke guided K-State to eight of the program’s top 20 54-hole scores in 2024-25 – including five of the top seven – in addition to 13 of the top 25 rounds. The Wildcats tied their school record 54-hole score from the previous year with an 840 at the Westbrook Invitational, while their score of 269 during the second round of the Schooner Fall Classic stands as the best round in school history by five shots.

Burke coached Carla Bernat throughout her collegiate career, who finished her two-year run at K-State in 2024-25 on a high note as the Spaniard set the school record for career scoring average (70.44), broke her own school record for single-season scoring average (70.08) and tied the program’s single-season record for wins (3). An ANNIKA Award finalist, Bernat also finished second in school history in career wins (5), top-five (14) and top-10 (16) finishes, posted eight of the program’s 25 best rounds and 13 of the program’s 25 best 54-hole scores.

The last of Bernat’s collegiate victories was in the NCAA Lexington Regional – the first Wildcat to earn an individual title in an NCAA postseason event – with a record-tying 54-hole score of 204. She also earned victories at the Powercat Invitational and MountainView Collegiate during the 2024-25 season.

The first All-American in school history as a junior, Bernat came back with a pair of first-team honors from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) and Golfweek as a senior.

Bernat was named the 2025 Big 12 Women’s Golfer of the Year – the second player in school history to earn the nod (Christine Boucher, 2003-04), while she teamed with Sophie Bert to give the Wildcats two All-Big 12 golfers in the same year for the first time in school history.

Outside of K-State competition, Burke saw Bernat win the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) in early April as she was the first player in ANWA history to tally three-consecutive rounds in the 60s.

Burke also guided Bert, a transfer, to a victory in the Big 12 Championship, the first individual conference champion in school history. Bert and Bernat, the latter of whom tied for second place, became the first K-State duo ever to finish in the top 10 in a conference championship. Bert tied the school record with a 204 at the Westbrook Invitational, while four of her rounds finished in the top six in school history.

In 2023-24, Burke guiding the Wildcats to a team scoring average of 290.25 – a record that stood for only one year – four top-five finishes – including one tournament victory – and the Wildcats’ highest ever placing at a conference championship when they finished third at the 2024 Big 12 Championship.

The Wildcats, who fell excruciatingly short of qualifying for their first NCAA Regional since 2017, topped their previous team scoring average record by over six shots per round and tied for seventh in school history in top-five finishes. K-State’s victory at the White Sands Invitational in The Bahamas in late October was its first team championship since 2019 and the first away from its home course since 2017.

In addition to the scoring average record, Burke also guided his initial K-State squad to the school record for lowest 54-hole score during the Westbrook Invitational when the Wildcats shot an 840 – 10 shots better than the previous record – and they tied the program record for lowest team round at 277 during that same event. Burke also coached the Wildcats to four other three-round totals that ranked in the top 25 in school history, including an 856 at the Schooner Fall Classic to tie for third and a pair of scores of 866 to tie for 10th.

K-State produced seven team rounds on the season that ranked in the top 20 in school history during Burke’s first year, highlighted by the second-round score of 277 at the Westbrook Invitational. The Wildcats also had rounds that ranked third (278 – Schooner Fall Classic), fourth (280 – Westbrook Invitational), eighth (281 – Mercedez-Benz Collegiate Championship) and ninth (283 – Westbrook Invitational) in program history at the time.

On an individual front, Burke guided Bernat to an individual NCAA Championship appearance – just the second individual in program history to qualify for the national championship – after tying for third place in the NCAA Bryan Regional with a 54-hole score of 7-under par 209. Her performance in the regional was one of seven 54-hole scores in Bernat’s 10 three-round events in which the Castellon, Spain, native ranked in the top 25 in school history. Her first campaign at K-State was highlighted by a 9-under par 207 to win the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic and tie for the third lowest 54-hole score in school history at the time.

Burke coached Bernat to the school record for individual scoring average at 70.90 – nearly two shots per round better than the previous record – to go along with a pair of victories as she also won the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational. Her two victories on the season tied for the second most by an individual in a single season.

Under Burke’s guidance, Bernat became the first All-American in school history after being named a second-team performer by the WGCA and a third-team pick by Golfweek. Additionally, Bernat was a unanimous selection to the coaches All-Big 12 team, just the third player in school history to earn the nod as she joined Christine Boucher (2002, 2003, 2004) and Connie Jaffrey (2018). Bernat finished the year ranked No. 24 in the national rankings. Away from the Wildcats, she tied for 17th at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in early April, while she was member of Team International for the Arnold Palmer Cup in early July.

Burke was also instrumental in closing out the career of Haley Vargas, who returned for her Super Senior season to help with the coaching transition. Vargas ended her career ranked fourth in school history in scoring average (75.32), while her average of 73.50 during the 2023-24 season ranked third in program history.

Vargas was named the 2023-24 Big 12 Women’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year – the first in program history – and was one of five members on the 2023-24 Academic All-Big 12 team, while five Wildcats were named to the All-American Scholar Team by the WGCA.

Burke, the 2022 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, came to K-State after serving four seasons as the head coach at Tulane. In addition to spending parts of three seasons as an assistant coach at K-State, he was also the associate head coach for parts of three seasons at USC.

During his tenure in New Orleans, Burke improved the Green Waves’ national Golfstat ranking more than 50 spots as he took over a program that ranked No. 113 the year prior to his arrival to a No. 62 mark during his final season.

Burke was named the AAC Coach of the Year in 2022 after leading the Green Wave to the school’s first conference championship in eight years to earn a berth into the NCAA Stillwater Regional. Three of his players that season – Bernat, Sandra Vazquez and Cleo Liu – were named All-AAC. The team’s success that season was born out of disaster and resolve as the team was displaced to Birmingham, Alabama, for five weeks in the fall of 2021 due to Hurricane Ida.

In 2022-23, Burke tutored Bernat to AAC Women’s Golfer of the Year, First Team All-AAC and Second Team All-America honors. She earned an individual bid into the 2023 NCAA Athens Regional in addition to competing for Team International in the 27th annual Arnold Palmer Cup. Bernat finished 21st in the Golfstat rankings, the fourth-highest ranked player from a non-Power 5 school.

While at K-State as an assistant, Burke helped raise the Wildcats’ Golfstat ranking from No. 105 into the top 40 as they tallied three team victories and four individual crowns. K-State also posted its top two stroke average marks in school history at the time with Burke on staff with the 2014-15 squad setting the then-school record at 297.30 followed closely by the 2015-16 team at 297.31.

Burke helped guide Madison Talley to consecutive individual postseason appearances, including the 2016 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional when she tied for 12th. Burke was also instrumental in helping build a squad that made the NCAA Athens Regional in 2017 after his departure to USC.

Talley set K-State’s single-season scoring average record at 73.78 in 2014-15, which was eventually broken by Connie Jaffrey, who spent the first part of her career learning under Burke. Jaffrey set the school record during her senior campaign of 2017-18 at 72.85 – a mark that was topped by Bernat in 2023-24 – and held the school’s career stroke average record until Bernat set that mark as well.

Burke left K-State in the spring of 2017 to serve as the assistant coach and later the associate head coach at USC. During his tenure in Los Angeles, Burke helped guide the Trojans to consecutive appearances in the NCAA Championship Semifinals (2017 and 2018) followed by a trip to the Quarterfinals (2019).

With Burke on staff, the Trojans captured 14 team victories and posted an impressive mark of 18-consecutive finishes in the top three from the spring of 2018 to the spring of 2019. During the 2018-19 season, the Trojans were ranked as the nation’s top team in both the Golfstat and Golfweek rankings on their way to a 2019 Pac-12 Championship and an NCAA West Regional team title. In total, Burke coached players that combined for eight First Team All-Pac-12 and 10 All-America accolades.

Prior to his time at K-State, Burke worked three years as the Director of Recruitment at United Sports USA, a company that assists NCAA Division I coaches of all sports with recruiting the top student-athletes from the United Kingdom and Europe. A partner who helped set up United Sports USA, Burke previously worked at a similar organization called First Point USA Sport Scholarship Consultants.

Burke played collegiately at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, where he graduated with a degree in sports management in 2007. He obtained a master’s degree in educational, school and counseling psychology with an emphasis in positive coaching from the University of Missouri in 2019, and he is working on another master’s degree in sports studies.

Burke and his wife, Lucy, have one daughter, Effie.