Eastern Nazarene College Women's Tennis

Steelman enters his second season as assistant coach with the Eastern Nazarene men's and women's tennis programs. Steelman graduated from Eastern Nazarene College in 2013. Steelman was an All-Commonwealth Coast Conference performer for the Lions and was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year as a junior. He is currently attending Harvard Law School.

Popa began playing tennis as a child on the clay courts of Progresul Stadium, site of the Romanian Open Tennis Tournament, in his hometown of Bucharest, Romania. Popa graduated from Eastern Nazarene College with a Bachelor's of Arts in Sociology and Psychology. He is an active member of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), is a Certified US Professional Tennis Association Coach and still participates regularly in USTA-sponsored tournaments. Popa led the Lions to a 9-10 overall record and a 5-3 mark in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. Eastern Nazarene advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals for the third year in a row in his 11th season. A pair of Lions picked up All-CCC accolades in 2013-14 as Sam McKay-Corkum garnered first team and second team honors while Tyler Perron earned a spot on the second team. In 2012-13, Popa guided the Lions to the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals for the second-straight season. Eastern Nazarene garnered five All-CCC accolades in 2013 as Austin Steelman headlined the honorees as the 2013 CCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In 2011-12, Popa received his second Commonwealth Coast Conference Coach of the Year Award after guiding the mens team to a 14-8 overall record en route to the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference playoffs. During this time at ENC, he has led the men's team to four postseason playoff berths and achieved the all-time record for most wins in a regular season by an ENC men's tennis team. Under his tenure the team has earned numerous Commonwealth Coast Conference awards, including the CCC's Most Valuable Player Award the CCC's Team Sportsmanship Award and Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. In the spring of 2006, Coach Popa was recognized as the CCC Men's Tennis "Coach of the Year." Also in 2009 he was recognized as the ENC Coach of the Year. Popas goal for the tennis program is to continue building a dedicated tennis team with strong individual tennis skills, and a program which exposes his players to tennis in an array of settings. Popa hosts invitational and intramural tennis tournaments on-campus and has established an annual team trip to Hilton Head, SC, for early season play. He seeks to encourage his student-athletes to pursue the sport of tennis throughout their lives.