Jon Burke
Co-Director
Jon Burke has spent the past 25 years coaching water polo throughout Northern California, establishing himself as one of the most accomplished and respected coaches in the sport.
Burke’s teams have won 13 CIF section championships, one CIF NorCal championship, and 15 league championships. He has coached in 15 CIF section finals, three CIF NorCal finals, and he is part of an elite group to win CIF section titles at multiple high schools (Sacred Heart Prep and Stevenson). Over his career he has developed 18 high school All-Americans, eight CIF section MVPs, dozens of all-league and all-section honorees, and has supported more than 50 student-athletes in achieving their goal of playing NCAA water polo.
Burke currently serves as the Director of Girls Water Polo at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California, and is the President and Founder of the MBU Water Polo Foundation. Under his leadership, Stevenson won CIF section championships in 2025, 2023, and 2022; the CIF NorCal championship in 2023; and was the CIF NorCal runner-up in 2022 and 2024. Stevenson’s 2022 CIF section title and 2023 CIF NorCal title were the first in Monterey County history—boys or girls. The program has qualified for four consecutive CIF NorCal playoffs (2022–2025), placing it among the few programs statewide to reach such a milestone.
Burke’s coaching excellence has been recognized nationally and regionally. He was named the 2024 USA Water Polo Pacific Zone Scholastic Coach of the Year, the 2017 California High School Water Polo Coach of the Year, the 2016 Northern California High School Water Polo Coach of the Year, the 2015 CCS Honor Coach, and the 2006 USA Water Polo Central Zone Development Coach of the Year.
During his tenure as head coach at Sacred Heart Prep (2006–2018), Burke built the Gators into a national powerhouse. His teams reached the CIF section finals 12 straight years and won 10 consecutive section championships—a CIF record in girls water polo.
Burke has also been a significant contributor to USA Water Polo. From 2016–2021 he served on the USA National Goalkeeper staff, and from 2014–2015 he was head coach of the Pacific Zone ODP Girls Cadet team, leading them to gold at the 2015 ODP National Championships. He has coached and mentored dozens of USA National Team athletes—including two Olympic champions—as well as national team players from Great Britain and the Philippines. His international coaching experience includes work in Argentina, Canada, Hungary, Croatia, and Spain, and he led the U.S. Men’s Maccabi Team to gold at the 2006 Pan American Maccabi Games.
Earlier in his career, Burke served as an assistant coach for the UC Davis men’s and women’s programs (2002–2006), where he was also a student-athlete and team captain, scoring 17 goals in his senior season. As women’s assistant coach, he helped the Aggies win the 2006 Western Water Polo Association championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the team finished fifth nationally.
Today, Burke is also a national speaker on college athletics, admissions, and student-athlete recruiting. He currently serves as Co-Director of College Counseling at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, where he lives with his wife, Debra, and their three children—Kai (10), Michael (9), and Noa (3).