As Hartford Athletic has just begun the 2026 campaign it has something it has never had before: a manager entering his third season at the helm.
Brendan Burke – who was hired after the club’s disastrous 2023 season – passed Harry Watling as the longest-tenured manager in club history early in the 2025 season and is now firmly in uncharted territory for the club. Come September, he’ll take charge of his 100th game for the club – more than double what Harry Watling managed – and with a USL Cup in his trophy cabinet and a playoff appearance into the bargain there’s no reason for Burke to be going anywhere anytime soon.
But Burke is not merely the longest-tenured manager in club history, he’s also now the most experienced active manager in the entire USL Championship despite having just turned 43. Across his time in Hartford, Colorado Springs, and with Bethlehem Steel/Philadelphia Union II, Burke has been at the helm for 258 regular-season matches in the USL Championship, the third-most all time behind only former Charleston Battery manager Mike Anhaeuser (303), and Bob Lilley who took charge for 386 matches across his time with Rochester Rhinos and Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The next-most experienced managers are Ryan Martin, who got 200 matches under his belt with Loudoun United before moving to Oakland Roots this offseason and Neill Collins who has 189 matches between his spells with Tampa Bay Rowdies and Sacramento Republic.
The league has certainly changed in that time, and Burke has seen it all.
“Oh my god, so many things [have changed]. You don't have [MLS] 2 teams to be beat up on anymore," he told The Blazing Musket. "There’s no games to hide behind. There’s no easy results. Certainly the way we travel, the way we build rosters, the way guys are compensated, it’s all moved forward in a really positive way. The crowds are different. The crowds are much bigger. The league has grown in a really positive way and become more competitive. There might have been four teams [from ten years ago] who could have competed now.”
Managing successfully through all that change – Burke has led all three of his clubs to the playoffs in very different eras - has been invaluable experience.
“I’m just extremely comfortable," he said. "I’m extremely motivated, but I’m very aware of what needs to happen and when. I’ve just been through this so many times. You can anticipate a lot of things with the way the team comes together, with really everything that you have to do. Comfort is the word I would use. Comfort in the job and the role, and understanding what I need to do to help them [the players] to be at their best.”
Hartford’s rancid start in 2025 gave way to one of the hottest stretches by any team in the history of the league. It’s a testament to Burke’s leadership that barely 18 months removed from turning in one of the worst records in the history of the league, Hartford looked like the best team on the pitch during a USL Cup run that saw them take down two clubs – San Antonio FC and Sacramento Republic – who are former league champions.
It’s also a testament to how much Burke has transformed the culture in his two seasons in charge.
"The first year was a cultural clean up, so that was a roller coaster," Burke said. "There were still a lot of guys that, I don't want to speak ill of any individuals, they just didn't fit the culture that I needed or expected or that we thought the club needed. That's different at every club, but this club needed structure. We needed guys in the building till 3:00 PM, not 12:00 PM.”
Burke now feels like the culture is where he wants it to be – he described the current locker room as a “very happy one” – and emphasized the dedication of his current squad, with team captain Jordan Scarlett earning particular praise.
“And I think that starts for us with Jordan," Burke said. "the way Jordan operates on the daily basis, there'll be times where I've left work at 4:00 or 5:00 and [I’m] going to workout and Jordan's already gone through a full training day, video sessions, meetings, gotten treatment here, been in the baths for hours after training and then I see him at the gym and he's in the sauna or he's off to get a massage. It's all day long and that's his mentality. That's what our young guys come in, that's what they get to see now.”
That transformation – in culture and results – is part of what makes Burke one of the best managers in the league. It’s also the second time he’s managed a turnaround: Colorado Springs were also in dire straits when he arrived ahead of the 2021 season and Burke completely transformed their fortunes as well, leading them to back-to-back playoff appearances and a Western Conference final in 2022. It’s a pattern that has Burke feeling like he’s becoming something of a specialist in turnarounds.
“But when I look back on it at like, I'm becoming the turn around guy," Burke said. "It's not what you set out to do in your career. You want to be Louisville, right? You just want to have everything at your fingertips and push the right buttons. That's the dream. Danny [Louisville City manager Danny Cruz] is living the dream but that comes with all sorts of pressure that people don't understand. Expectations on him are different than the rest of us. Quite frankly, I've found it very freeing to go into Colorado. They were the worst team in the country. We were in [the Western Conference] final.”
The turnaround might in some sense be complete in Hartford, but Burke is still targeting more.
“I have no intention of not being here for the next number of years.” he said pointing to the USL Cup trophy. “I want, I want one of those every year. Like that's, that's what we're here for now. We did all the hard work. Now we have to do the hardest work, which is sustainability and and growing something that's already really good.”
