Union College Athletics

The only coach in program history, Mary Ellen Burt finished her 11th and final season at the helm of the Union College women's golf team in 2022-23. Burt also served 26 seasons as the head coach of the Union women's basketball team as well before stepping down from that role at the end of the 2020-21 school year.

A certified golf teaching professional through the United States Golf Teachers Federation, Burt built the Union golf program from the ground up since taking over in September 2011.

Burt led the Dutchwomen to near continuous improvement during her tenure, with the team lowering its single-season stroke average in all but two full seasons. The upward trajectory continued in 2021-22, when the team broke the school single-season record for the fourth time in the last five seasons, taking nearly 10 strokes off the previous standard. The team also recorded the three lowest single-round scores and the two best two-day scoring marks ever at Union, led by a record-setting weekend of 319-325-644 at St. Lawrence on September 4-5, 2021.

In Burt's final season at the helm in 2022-23, sophomore Liz Bentsianov broke her own school single-season scoring average standard by averaging 79.75 strokes per round and also broke school records for single-round (75) and two-day (152) scoring. She capped her successful season by earning All-Liberty League first-team honors at the year-end Liberty League Championships, the first player in program history to finish in the top-five at the conference event.

The Dutchwomen also succeeded off the course as well in Burt's tenure, twice finishing in the top 20 of Division III schools in cumulative grade-point average according to the Women's Golf Coaches Association. The team also earned the President's Award for Academic Achievement three times (2018, 2019, 2021) in the last six years, recognizing the Union team with the highest team GPA.

On the basketball court, Burt put together one of the greatest careers of any Union coach. She recorded her 300th career victory with a season-opening win at Hartwick on November 15, 2016 and, with a win at Bard on January 15, 2019, became the all-time leader in wins of any Union coach (men's or women's) in any sport. Her career record finished at 344-285 (.547), including only three losing campaigns in her last two decades and an average of 14 wins per year.

A graduate of R.L. Thomas High School in Webster, New York, Coach Burt attended the University of Southern California on a full athletic scholarship. She lettered in basketball all four seasons before graduating in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She was the first assistant at the University of Rochester from 1984 through 1989 before taking over as the first assistant at Southwest Texas State University from 1989 to 1991. Coach Burt rejoined the Rochester staff as part of the admissions office in 1991 before taking over as the Yellowjackets first assistant coach in 1992.

Burt, who earned her Masters in Business Administration from St. John Fisher in 1989, was the Executive Director of the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association from 1993-99 and served on the Executive Council of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.