Annapolis native Ian Burman is in his 18th season as head coach of the Navy intercollegiate sailing team in 2025-26.
In his first 17 years at the helm of the Midshipmen, Burman has guided Navy to three national championships while mentoring JC Hermus into the 2021 National College Sailor of the Year and overseeing 62 All-America selections for the Mids.
Taking home the 2024-25 Navy Director of Athletics Cup, Burman’s squad earned berths to four ICSA Championships, including closing out the season by placing second in the Open Fleet Race National Championship. Individually, the Mids produced four ICSA All-Americans, as Nathan Smith took home All-America Open Skipper honors and Ellie Alex nabbed All-America Crew distinction, while Henry Allgeier and Fiona Cullen garnered Honorable Mention All-American nods. Navy also racked up the honors at the conference level with three major awards and nine All-MAISA selections, highlighted by Smith winning MAISA Open Skipper of the Year, Alex earning MAISA Crew of the Year and assistant coach Dillon Paiva collecting MAISA Coach of the Year.
The 2023-24 season saw Burman’s team garner three All-America accolades, with Evie Blauvelt and Ryan Wahba both earning All-American status for the second-straight year, while also having MAISA Crew of the Year winner Madeline Smith headline Navy’s eight All-MAISA selections. A strong fall saw both Trenton Shaw and Kate Zurinskas qualify for the ICSA Singlehanded Championships while the Mids posted an eighth-place finish in the ICSA Match Race Championship, setting the stage for the spring where Navy placed 11th in the ICSA Team Race Championship, 13th in the ICSA Women’s Fleet Race Championship and eighth in the ICSA’s open fleet race finals.
Recording their fourth-straight season with five-or-more ICSA All-Americans, Burman’s 2022-23 squad used a strong fall that included Gavin McJones finishing 12th at ICSA Men’s Singlehanded Championship to propel themselves in the spring championships, placing 17th in the ICSA Women’s Fleet Race Nationals, earning ninth place at the ICSA Team Race Nationals and finishing 18th in the ICSA Fleet Race Nationals.
The 2021-22 campaign had Burman's program place amongst the top-10 teams in each of the three spring ICSA National Championships during the over a two-week span, highlighted by recording sixth-place marks in both the team race and fleet race championships. The spring season built off a strong fall, as second-place finish in November's ICSA Match Race Championship was the Midshipmen's best finish in the event since winning the ICSA Match Race Championship title during the 2011 season. Individually, Burman had a total of five athletes named to the ICSA All-America Teams, the third-straight campaign with at least five All-America honorees for the Mids.
In his 13th year at Navy, the 2020-21 season, Burman led the Midshipmen to one of the most successful season's in program history. Navy captured a pair of national titles along with placing in the top-10 of all three doublehanded national championships.
The Mids posted eight top-five finishes including taking first place at the Annapolis National Offshore Regatta in the fall along with posting top finishes at the Navy Quad Meet and Navy Spring Regatta. The first national championship for the Midshipmen came at the ICSA Team Race National Championship, earning the Walter C. Wood Trophy for the first time since the 1992 season after recording a 17-2 record over the two days of competition. The run of national success continued for Navy just five days later when it clinched the Henry A. Morse Trophy for the ICSA Coed National Championship, marking its second national title within a week.
For his efforts under the direction of Burman, JC Hermus was named the Everett B. Morris College Sailor of the Year by the ICSA, becoming the first Midshipman to win the award since 1995. Additionally, eight Mids earned All-American honors including Hermus, Connor Bayless, Olivia de Olazarra, Fiona Lobon, Kimmie Leonard, Gray Benson, Madeline Pruzan and Sally Johnson.
During the 2019-20 season, Burman helped the pair of Jessica McJones and Gavin McJones qualify for the ICSA Women’s and Men’s Singlehanded Championship in the fall, as Jessica McJones finished 12th and Gavin McJones took 10th. Despite the shortened spring season, Navy placed eight on the All-MAISA Teams. JC Hermus and Parker Loftus were selected as First Team All-MAISA Coed Skipper with Hermus being named a finalist for MAISA Skipper of the Year. Olivia de Olazarra and Brittney Slook were selected as First Team All-MAISA Women’s Skippers. Connor Bayless was named a Second Team All-MAISA Coed Skipper with Sally Johnson, Kimmie Leonard and Fiona Lobon earned All-MAISA Crew honors.
In his 11th year at Navy, he coached the Midshipmen to all three spring national championships, where Navy capped off the season with third-place finish in the ICSA Coed National Championship. The Mids finished sixth at Team Race National and 10th in the Women's National Championship. Burman coached All-American Skippers in JC Hermus and Parker Loftus, along with All-American Crew pick Ana Mier. He also helped Jessica McJones qualify and finish 10th at the ICSA Women's Singlehanded Championship in the fall.
In 2017-18, Burman helped Navy to a pair of top-15 finished in the ICSA National Championships. The Midshipmen finished 10th in Coed and 13th in the Women's National Championship. The duo of Gary Prieto and Peter Hogan earned ICSA Honorable Mention All-American honors under Burman, while Ana Mier was an All-American Crew recipient.
During the 2016-17 campaign, Ana Mier and Mary Morocco earned their first career All-American honors. Gary Prieto has also an honorable mention All-American in 2017, while Patrick Snow was on the Coed All-America Skippers team.
Navy had two top-10 national championship team finishes in 2015-16, including a seventh-place showing at the ICSA Coed Dinghy National Championship. Navy earned two All-America accolades with Megan Hough being named to the ICSA All-America Crew First Team and Patrick Snow being named to the ICSA All-America Coed Skipper Honorable Mention list.
In 2014-15, the team had top-10 finishes at both the ICSA Team Coed Dinghy National Championship and the ICSA Team Racing National Championship. Mary Hall capped off her career by being named an ICSA All-American Women's Skipper, while Hall was also named the MAISA Women's Sailor of the Year and to the All-MAISA Women's Skipper First Team and the All-MAISA Coed Skipper Second Team. Fellow senior Emma Ferris was named an ICSA All-American Women's Crew. 2014-15 also saw Burman have his first male qualify for the ICSA Men's Singlehanded National Championship since 2007 when freshman Addison Hackstaff placed eighth at the regatta.
In 2013-14, Burman led Navy's women's intercollegiate sailing team to a third-place finish at the National Championship, its highest finish in more than 10 years. He led Navy to a seventh-place showing following the 2011 season. His team was ninth in the 2013 Championship.
Burman also guided the squad to the 2011 ICSA Sloop National Championship for the first time in 15 years.
Following a distinguished junior sailing career, which included representing the USA in the Optimist South American Championship, Optimist European Championship and 420 World Championship, Burman went on to sail in college at Georgetown University where he finished second in the Sloop Nationals during his senior year. While in college, he started coaching at Severn Sailing Association during the summer and had great success working with the junior sailors there, with his teams regularly dominating Chesapeake Bay competitions.
Upon graduation, Burman moved to San Diego, Calif., where he took up coaching full time with immediate success. In his first year of coaching sailing at Coronado High School, the team accomplished an unprecedented sweep of all three high school national championships. During his time in Southern California, Burman also coached sailors who won the 420 Midwinter Championship, Sabot National Championship and FJ National Championship.
Burman then moved back to Annapolis and took over as the Junior Program Director at SSA. In four years there, he built the program to become a major player on the national scene. In addition to being director, Burman also served as head coach of the high school sailing program, where his teams improved from being middle of the pack to perennially in contention for medals at the nationals, which was accomplished with the Severn School team placing third in his last year of high school coaching.
Burman also previously worked at Stagg Yachts managing and coordinating the racing in the M 30 and Farr 40 one design classes.
Burman resides in Annapolis with his wife, Leah, and their son, Trey.
