A former high school head coach with 14 years of experience, Jim Burkman joined the Lycoming College swim staff in 2014-15. His focus is on identifying talent and recruiting for the Warriors.
Burkman was the head coach at Schuylkill Valley High School for 14 seasons, compiling a record of 202-150-2. He coached swimmers to 381 district medals, six individual district Championships, two relay district championships and four team district championships. Burkman coached 113 of the 160 swimmers on the school’s all-time top-10 times list.
Burkman's Schuylkill Valley teams also experienced success on the state level, earning 70 PIAA Class AA medals, two individual state championships and he also coached one PIAA Class AA state championship record holder.Â
In all, he coached his athletes to 170 all-state honors and 14 went on to earn All-American honors. His teams finished in the top-five at the district meet 17 times, the top 20 at the state meet 11 times and the top 10 in the NISCA National Power Points rankings (enrollment under 900) 10 times.
His teams achieved the NISCA Team Scholar Award Bronze Level 5 times. He was also named Reading Eagle Coach of the Year four times. While at Schuylkill Valley, he also served as the president of the Pennsylvania High School Swimming Coaches' Association from 2009-11. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Aquatic Hall of Fame committee and is the president of the Berks County Swimming Association.
Also with a long set of experience in coaching club swimming, he has worked with the Maple Springs summer team, the Boyertown YMCA, Antietam summer team, the Reading Mini-Knights, Crestwood summer team, College Manor summer team and he currently coaches the Bern Township summer team.
Burkman, who served for six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, also was the director of community aquatics for the Schuylkill Valley School District.
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