Coaching Staff
Head Coach
Rob Burke, second year
burkerw@buffalostate.edu
Assistant Coaches
Will Hamele, Jamie Overbeck
Rob Burke is in his second season as the head coach at Buffalo State. In his first year, he led the Bengals to a record of 7-15-1 overall, equalling the highest win total since 2000-01, and a 5-9 mark in league play.
A native of Montreal, Burke spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Ivy League Division I Cornell University. While on the Big Red’s staff, he worked two seasons under Melody Davidson who left the program to serve as head coach of the gold medal-winning Canadian national team in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. In addition to his assistant coaching duties, he also served as the liaison with the Tompkins Girls Hockey Association in running the Cub Club, a program pairing up Cornell players with young girls who are just learning to play hockey.
Prior to Cornell, he spent three seasons as the head coach at Hamline University, a Division III school in St. Paul, Minn. During his tenure, Burke mentored an All-America runner-up goalkeeper, three all-conference selections, one all-rookie team member, and two all-academic honorees while moving the program to varsity status. He brought 24 students to Hamline in only two recruiting years. While developing the foundation for the program on the ice, Burke also emphasized success in the classroom, coaching 11 Dean’ list students and had an overall team grade point average of 3.12.
Burke has also worked with numerous youth hockey programs, camps and clinics, including the Cornell Girls Hockey Camp, the Rocky Mountain Elite Girls Hockey Camp in Colorado, the Cutting Edge Hockey Camp in Connecticut and the Tidewater Squirt Travel Hockey Team in Chesapeake, Va.
His additional experience includes two seasons as the head coach, general manager and co-founder of the Virginia Commonwealth University hockey club. Burke’s coaching career began during the 1993-94 season, when he was a volunteer assistant with the Richmond Renegades of the ECHL.
Burke has his Advanced (Level IV) Coaching Certification for USA Hockey, and has also served as an official under USA Hockey. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Fredonia in Theatre Arts in 1992, where he played two seasons of varsity hockey.
Rob and his wife Andrea currently reside in Tonawanda with their daughter Kailyn.
Assistant Coach Jamie Overbeck
Jamie Overbeck joins the Bengals’ coaching staff in 2007-08, one year after completing her four-year playing career in the orange and black. A captain last season, she finished her career as the program’s fourth-leading scorer all-time with 26 goals and 44 points. She also holds the school records for power play goals in a season and career and shorthanded goals in a career. Also a former player with the Buffalo Bisons Youth Hockey Organization, she is a native of Tonawanda, NY. Overbeck will complete her bachelor’s degree in health and wellness with a minor in coaching in December.
Assistant Coach Will Hamele
Will Hamele joined the Bengals coaching staff last season. A former two-time SUNYAC Player of the Year and First Team All-American goaltender at Fredonia State, Hamele also played professionally for the Augusta Lynx in the ECHL. He has earned his Level II USA Hockey Coaching Certificate and has served as a volunteer assistant and goaltending coach with several youth hockey teams over the past several years. A native of Dearborn, Mich., Hamele completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fredonia and is currently pursuing his master’s in physical education at Canisius College. Hamele currently resides in Cheektowaga with his wife Rachel.
