Now entering into his seventh season as ETSU Head Women’s Tennis Coach, Steve Brooks has continued to elevate his team’s success in both the Atlantic Sun Conference and in the NCAA Southeast region during his tenure for the Bucs.

            After back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances, Brooks and the Bucs posted a 14-10 overall record reaching the Atlantic Sun conference finals for the third consecutive season.  ETSU continued to make history earning its highest final rankings in school history by the ITA, finishing 15^th in the Southeast region.  The 2008 season also marked the fourth year in a row that Brooks and ETSU was ranked by the ITA at season’s end, with ETSU finishing the season as the only A-Sun member to receive a final ranking. Individually, Brooks would go on to lead current junior Yevgeniya Stupak to an individual regional ranking at 14 and a spot in the NCAA Singles Championship, while former Buc Olya Batsula earned ETSU’s  second A-Sun “Woman of the Year,” and NCAA “Woman of the Year,” nominee honor.

            In 2007 Brooks led the Bucs to a 17-10 overall record, posting the school’s first back-to-back A-Sun regular season championships going 8-1 in league play. Brooks’ club picked up victories over No. 73 Michigan State, UNC Charlotte, Winthrop and former SoCon rival UNC Greensboro. His team also recorded 11 shutouts wins with eight coming over A-Sun opponents. The team also earned a No.11 ITA Southeast regional ranking and ETSU’s doubles tandem of former players Olya Batsula and Masha Illina earned the school’s ITA regional doubles ranking. Illina under Brooks leadership became the school’s career singles wins leader, while earning the prestigious ITA/Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship award and Atlantic Sun “Woman of the Year,” award. Off the court Brooks, along with members of the ETSU Athletic Department, has help lead a number of ETSU women’s tennis players to ITA Scholar Athlete awards.

            The 2006 season, marked the most successful season since his arrival at ETSU. Brooks led the team to a 23-5 overall record and a 9-0 conference finish, winning the Atlantic Sun Conference championship and making their first-ever NCAA appearance. His team’s wins during the season included a third consecutive win over former Southern Conference rival College of Charleston and victories over West Virginia, Middle Tennessee State, Davidson and No. 60 Loyola-Marymount. ETSU also recorded 15 shut-out wins with nine of them coming over conference opponents. The 2006 squad also ended the season with a No. 75 national ranking, as well as a No. 11 regional ranking, their highest ever. Academically, the team was named an ITA All-Academic team for the third year in a row, while Olya Batsula and Sandie Knight were also named ITA Scholar Athletes.

            During the 2004-2005 season Brooks’ team continued to show improvement earning a regional ranking and finishing tied for second in the regular season, while the 2003-04 squad improved from seventh to fourth in the Southern Conference.

After solid recruiting class in 2001, both the 2001 and 2002 teams grew from two scholarship players and one walk-on to double that while improving to a school best 12-17 record, which was a 62 percent improvement from they year before Brooks was hired by ETSU.

            Brooks comes to ETSU after serving as the men’s tennis head coach at The Citadel. He brought more than 10 years coaching experience to the position at ETSU, including stints at nationally ranked University of Tennessee (1987-1990), University of Arkansas (1986), and Carson-Newman, his alma mater, in 1985.

            Brooks has also coached on the WTA tour and USTA National junior circuit. He coached four WTA players ranked in the top 120; one of them was No. 30. During the five years previous to coaching at The Citadel, his junior players won four USTA National singles championships along with more than 10 sectional and 30 state titles.

            Brooks followed his father, brother, and two sisters by competing collegiately at Carson-Newman College. Brooks is the winningest player in Carson-Newman men’s tennis history. Brooks was named to the CN Men’s Tennis Team of the Century. He was inducted along with his brother Chip (1999 USPTA National Pro of the Year). He was undefeated in both singles and doubles in conference regular season play all four years of college without losing a set. Brooks was ranked as high as eighth nationally in college.

            A native of Jefferson City, Tenn., Brooks earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from Carson-Newman. He then earned a master’s degree in administration/recreation from the University of Tennessee. He has taught and lived all over the country and enjoys calling East Tennessee his home.