Dan Burke begins his 11th year as the head coach of the Wilmington University men’s basketball program in 2025-26. Burke was hired in June 2014 and began his collegiate head coaching career with the Wildcats in the 2014-15 season.

In his first season with the Wildcats, Burke led the team to the most wins in its NCAA era, advancing all the way to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship game for the first time in program history. It was also only the second time in program history the team reached the CACC Tournament. The team defeated the North Division’s top seed, Dominican, with a last-second shot in the CACC Quarterfinal before upsetting South Division third seed Holy Family. The run came to an end against South Division No. 2 Philadelphia on its home court in the CACC Championship.

Since then, Burke has helped lead the Wildcats to the CACC Tournament in all by one year as the head coach, including eight straight seasons (minus the COVID-19 pandemic season in which the Wildcats did not participate). The program hosted its first-ever postseason home game in 2016-17 with a 14-5 CACC mark, finishing second the South Division.

The 19-10 overall mark in 2016-17 set an NCAA era program record for wins in a season. As a result of that record-breaking campaign, Burke was named CACC Coach of the Year. He became the winningest coach in WilmU’s NCAA era with a win over Holy Family on December 5, 2018, and earned his 100th career coaching victory on January 28, 2023, against Felician. 

The program has had 11 All-CACC honorees since Burke’s arrival.  Tyaire Ponzo-Meek was the first all-conference performer, earning first-team honors in 2015-16. He followed that season with another first-team performance in 2016-17, while also being named CACC Player of the Year and first-team all-region by D2CCA and NABC. Ponzo-Meek finished his stellar career with totals of 1,808 points, 336 assists, and 174 steals.

Burke and his staff oversaw the development of Jermaine Head, who graduated as the program’s all-time leader in scoring (1,871), assists (450), and steals (206). Head was named CACC Rookie of the Year and second-team all-conference in 2017-18.  He earned back-to-back first-team All-CACC honors in 2018-19 and 2019-20, while being named second-team all-region both seasons.

Nick Richards is the other Wildcat to receive all-conference recognition multiple times during Burke’s tenure.  In his two seasons as a Wildcat, Richards earned second-team honors in 2016-17, and first-team honors in 2018-19. Amiri Stewart also earned first-team all-conference recognition for his stellar junior season performance in 2023-24. The other all-conference performers under Burke were second-team honoree Randy Rickards (2022-23), as well as third-teamers Thomas Farrior (2018-19) and Danny Walsh (2021-22).

Burke took over the Wildcats after successful assistant coaching stints at Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference foe Chestnut Hill College and at Camden County College. He helped lead Camden County College to a 20-8 record in 2013-14, taking the team to the NJCAA Region XIX semifinal game. The Cougars were ranked as high as 11^th in the country during that season.

Prior to his season at Camden County College, Burke spent four seasons on the bench at Chestnut Hill, playing against the Wildcats. He coached under current Griffins Director of Athletics, Jesse Balcer, helping the program to the CACC Tournament Semifinals in the 2010-11 season.

During his time at Chestnut Hill, Burke assisted in the development of four 1,000-point scorers while also helping a pair of student-athletes continue their basketball careers at the professional level.

Before heading into his current coaching career, Burke played four years at Chestnut Hill under Balcer. He was named a team captain as a senior and was awarded the Presidential Leadership Award in 2008, given to five graduating students based on leadership and contributions to the college community.

In addition to coaching at WilmU, Burke serves as the Coordinator of Student Concerns in the university’s Office of Student Affairs and instructs undergraduate and graduate courses in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He has also worked at the NCAA Academy Summer Camp, served on the NCAA East Region Advisory Committee, and worked as the site representative for the NCAA East Region tournaments in 2023 and 2025. Coach Burke is an active member of the NABC and participates in the organization’s Mentor Circle program.

Burke’s wife, Bethann, is the head coach of the women’s basketball program at CACC rival Goldey-Beacom. The couple has two daughters, ages 4 and 8.