With one final hoops season in the books, Waldron coach Jon Burk to retire after spring
WALDRON — A longtime coaching career at Waldron High School will come to an end this spring. Coach Jon Burk will coach his final season of softball, coinciding with his youngest daughter Makenna's final season of softball.
This winter was his final season coaching the Waldron girls basketball team. Burk was a basketball coach for 22 years for Waldron athletics, from junior high to varsity. This included six years as a boys basketball coach. Burk has also been the softball coach for Waldron for 10 years.
His final season of softball will mark a coaching career that saw him coach each of his three daughters, Madison, Morgan and Makenna.
During his time with the Waldron basketball programs, he has led the girls teams to multiple winning seasons. From 2013 through the 2018-19 season, the girls basketball team had winning seasons and four division titles. They also earned a division title in 2022 and 2023 and earned a 16-8 overall record in 2023-24 during Morgan Burk's final season.
"I've had a lot of good, successful teams," Jon Burk said. "Those moments, and being able to coach my kids, (were) awesome."
Some of those favorite moments include watching the team accomplish multiple personal achievements, including all-time leading program scorer Taylor Long's career and Morgan's own 1,000-point career.
"I got so many memories, it's so hard for me to pick one," Burk said. "When (Morgan) scored her 1,000th point. That was cool, not that that was what we were looking to do, but that was a cool moment for us."
His final season as head coach saw the team finish the year with 10 total wins, including his last playoff win, a 35-32 thrilling victory over Britton Deerfield. While coach is confident there will be a bright future ahead for the program, he is still sad to see the end of his coaching career coming after the spring sports season. His wife, Sarah, was a scorebook keeper for most of his career.
"It's tough," Burk said.
The Spartan softball team will play its final year under coach Burk. The program won a district title in 2018. This will be the final season for his youngest daughter, Makenna Burk, who will be graduating after the spring sports season.
"I got Makenna for that, and that's her favorite sport," Burk said. "Hopefully we will have some good memories with her to finish this out."
All three of his daughters have gone or will be going to the PSI institute in Toledo to train for careers in nursing. Madison is an RN at Hillsdale in the surgical department.
Coach Burk says one of the biggest reasons for his continued success and reason for coaching has been the support he has gotten from the Waldron school district community, players, fans and parents.
"Thanks for all the support. I've had good support over all of the years. They've all been great to me, and (I) appreciate."
While retiring from his professional career outside of coaching is not on the horizon, coach Burk says he plans to enjoy the off-time fishing, golfing and having fun, although he did not rule out ever finding his way back to Spartan athletics like returning Pittsford girls basketball coach Chris Hodos had done this winter sports season.
"It's just kind of time for me to move on... I'm going to try and enjoy it and see what happens."
The first game for Waldron softball is scheduled for April 4 against Camden-Frontier.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: The 2024-25 basketball year marked the final season for longtime coach Jon Burk
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