Successful NCAA Division I baseball coach Conor Burke traces his success back to playing days at GTCC

In the summer of 2009, Conor Burke moved south from Oyster Bay, New York to join the Guilford Technical Community College baseball team. The move was suggested by a pro baseball scout, intended to help fuel his dream of becoming a professional baseball player.

However, a few weeks into his first season with the Titans, Burke quickly realized that the competition in the South was more intense than he was used to. Instead, that year at GTCC inspired Burke’s career as a college baseball coach.

“My goal was to be a pro, but I saw while playing at GTCC that wasn’t going to happen. We had a really strong conference. I got to see what professional players look like, and it wasn’t me,” said Burke.

Today, Burke is in his fifth season as the head baseball coach at Iona University, located in New Rochelle, New York, not far from where he grew up in Old Bethpage, New York. The Catholic university has an enrollment around 4,000 and competes in Division 1.

He opened his first season at GTCC as a starter, but in just a few games he was on the bench, a role player for the rest of his career as a Titan.

“I only had one year at GTCC, and it wasn’t great statistically,” said Burke. “I started off as a starter in the fall, but then we got a transfer who came in and beat me out for the job. I became a pinch runner, a role player.”

During this time, he became an observer of the game, soaking in all the knowledge possible from the dugout.

“Without that year on the top step of the dugout, I wouldn’t be where I am. It was invaluable. I learned from the coaches, I took in the game from the bench. I had to understand what was going on in the game in case I had to go in.”

Burke said he was never upset that he lost the starting position. “It was a part of life. I’ve always been a believer that the best player got the job.”

When the 2010 season was over, Burke transferred to Queens College in Queens in New York City.  As a junior, Burke was an outfielder for the Knights, but a nagging back injury turned out to be a fracture of his spine, which ended his playing career.

“At the end of the year, though, the coach asked me to stay on as an assistant coach,” Burke explained.

This marked the start of his coaching career that wound through New England before eventually landing him at Iona and back to his childhood community.

In 2014 he moved from Queens to Concordia College, also in New York City. He moved within the city again in 2015, this time to Adelphi University working with infielders and outfielders.

Burke was hired by the University of Maine in the summer of 2015, his first Division 1 job. He moved to the Ivy League with an assistant coaching job at Dartmouth University in 2019 before making the move to Iona in 2021.

“I loved my time at Maine and I loved my time at Dartmouth. When you sit with smart coaches, you come up with ideas on how to make players better,” said Burke.

Through all of his coaching promotions, there has been one constant with Burke - his time at GTCC.

“The friends I made there are lifelong, I still talk to a lot of those guys,” said Burke, who has also become friends with current GTCC Baseball Coach, TJ Wharton. “I remember the camaraderie we had there. I thought the campus was beautiful. I remember the classes were small and I had great professors. They treated me as a person, as an individual.”