Steve Burmaster begins his seventh season as the Head Coach of the Cornerstone University Women's Volleyball program and his thirteenth season as a Head Coach at the collegiate level. Under his leadership the team has posted a 235-52 record (.819 winning percentage), which included the 2003 WHAC Tournament Championship, 2004 WHAC Conference Championship, 2004 NAIA Region VIII Championship, 2004 NAIA National Championship Tournament and inclusion in the NAIA “Top Twenty Five” National poll each season. In 2004 he led the Golden Eagles to a school record high of 4th in the nation and the team finished the campaign ranked 8th nationally. Along with the outstanding 2004 season (48-6) came a lot of awards for Coach Burmaster including: 2004 WHAC Coach of the Year, 2004 NAIA Region VIII Coach of the Year, and the 2004 AVCA/Tachikara Coach of the Year. This past December, he was awarded the AVCA Victory Club plaque for his 300 victories at the collegiate level at the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Convention in Sacramento, CA following a 38-6 season in 2007.

Coach Burmaster came to Cornerstone in 2002 with a wealth of experience both on the collegiate and high school level as both a coach and as a volleyball official. He has served as Head Volleyball Coach at Hope International University (CA) for one year, at California Baptist University (CA) for three years and Fresno Pacific University (CA) for two years. His team was ranked as high as #2 in the NAIA during his tenure at Fresno Pacific. Steve was presented with the “Tachikara 200 Victory Club Award” in 2004 in Long Beach, CA at the AVCA National Convention for his 200 collegiate victories (Hope International, Cal Baptist, Fresno Pacific, and Cornerstone). Before moving to Michigan in 2002, Coach Burmaster was the Head Girl’s and Boy’s Volleyball Coach and the Physical Education Department Chair at San Luis Obispo High School in San Luis Obispo, CA .

Steve coached Girls’ Volleyball at SLO High School for 11 years. His Girl’s Volleyball Team won the CIF Southern Section 2A title in 1989 and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Final in 1994 and 1996. They advanced to the Southern California State Semi-Finals in 1989 and and the Finals in 1996. Steve’s teams won five Northern League Championships in his last eight years, including the last three in a row and were ranked in the CIF “Top Ten” poll each of his eleven years that he coached at SLOHS. Most recently, he was also awarded the “Tachikara 300 Victory Club Award” for over 300 high school victories (Valencia, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Forest Hills Eastern, MI; and Forest Hills Central High School, MI) in December, 2006 at the AVCA National Convention in Omaha, NE. He finished with a 145-40 record as the Girls’ Volleyball Coach at SLOHS—with the most wins and best winning percentage in the history of the program. The SLOHS Boys’ Volleyball program was established in 1999 and quickly became one of the top programs on the Central Coast as well, winning the 2001 and 2002 Northern League titles, was ranked 5th in the CIF “Top Ten” poll for the Southern California Region his last two years and went undefeated in conference play in 2001 and 2002 (they have since gone on to win 5 additional league championships!) Since moving to Michigan, Steve coached the Forest Hills Central High School JV team to an impressive 55-4 record in 2003, and then started the Girls’ Volleyball program at Forest Hills Eastern High School leading the “Hawks” to the 2005 District Semifinals in their first year! He was then named the Head Girls’ Volleyball Coach at Forest Hills Central High School and coached them to the 2006 District Finals, the 2007 District Championship and the 2007 Regional Finals before resigning his position at FHC, when the MHSAA was forced to change the high school volleyball seasons to the same season as the collegiate volleyball season.
In addition to coaching, Steve is a certified outdoor USA National Beach referee and officiated on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour for 20 years—working over 100 televised finals on the FOX Sports Network, ESPN, and NBC as the 1st or 2nd Referee or a Linesperson. He was also a certified collegiate volleyball referee for 20 years, from 1987 to 2006 including numerous matches in the Big West and West Coast Conference (Women’s NCAA Division I) and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (Men’s NCAA Division I) before moving to Michigan in 2002. In addition, Steve has been a local member of the Michigan Board of High School and Collegiate Volleyball Officials and worked a number of high school and college matches during his first 5 years in the Midwest—he retired from indoor officiating in 2007 and d from AVP Tour in 2008 so he could spend more time with his family.

Coach Burmaster is a 1979 graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a B.S. degree in Physical Education, a M.Ed. degree in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific University (CA) and has also done doctoral work in Institutional Management at Pepperdine University (CA).