Steve Gachko is in his 17th season as the head coach of the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s tennis team in 2020-21. Gachko served as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s programs prior to 2020 and compiled a 359-202 record combined between the two teams. He was awarded the Wilson/ITA National Men’s Coach of the Year honor in 2015. He is the winningest women’s and men’s tennis coach in program history.
Gachko has accomplished numerous firsts in program history, including its first ever nationally-ranked recruiting class in 2012, first ITA regional and national team ranking, first ITA All-American and first appearance in the NCAA Regional Final in 2013.
Gachko has won nine conference Coach of the Year awards, and his teams have finished over .500 in all but two of his first 14 total seasons. Additionally, Gachko was awarded the USTA/ITA Campus & Community Outreach Award in recognitions for service to the community and leading community-based tennis programs.
Men’s Tennis Team
Gachko is the all-time winningest coach for the men’s team (168-81) with 2015 being the most successful season in program history. In 2015, the men’s team earned a national ranking of #22 in the country while going 6-4 with teams ranked in the top 40. His teams have garnered 75 All-Conference honors as well as six Rookie of the Year selections and six Player of the Year choices. His players have excelled in the fall ITA Northeast Regional Tournament, with both #1 seeds in singles and doubles winning the tournament and advancing to the ITA Small College National Championships with Matthew Heinrich finishing #2 nationally in singles and Matthew Heinrich and Ben Foran finishing #3 nationally in doubles. He has led the Ducks to six straight Empire 8 Athletic Conference Championships and 10 conference titles in the last 11 years, dating back to Stevens’ membership in the Skyline Conference. Gachko has qualified his teams for the NCAA Championship in all but two seasons, reaching the Second Round in five of the past six years and advancing to the program’s first-ever Regional Finals in 2013.
The Ducks finally broke through onto the national scene in 2012-13, defeating a pair of ranked opponents for the first time in program history and advancing to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Championship, with Rosensteel and freshman Matthew Heinrich earning a bid to the NCAA Individual Championships as a doubles team, ranking as high as No. 3 in the Northeast region, and both ranking regionally in singles (13th and 14th, respectively). The team ranked a program-best No. 8 in the Northeast in the May 2 rankings and Heinrich, the Empire 8 Rookie and Player of the Year, was named the ITA Northeast Rookie of the Year.
Gachko immediately revitalized the men’s tennis program upon taking the helm for the 2005-06 season, tying a still-standing record with 12 consecutive wins and winning a third straight Skyline title. The Ducks quickly built on their success with the program’s first NCAA Championship berth and a program-record 16 wins, then topped that in the 2007-08 campaign, winning the Empire 8 title in their conference debut and reaching the Second Round of the NCAA Championship in another 16-win campaign. The 2009-10 season proved to be the most successful season to date, as the team won a record 18 matches and earned a bye in the First Round of the NCAA Championship, climbing as high as No. 10 in the Northeast region of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings.
Gachko’s teams kept building on their previous success as the 2010-11 squad saw sophomore Chris Rosensteel earn the program’s highest-ever regional ranking in singles (13) and doubles (sixth), with classmate Shota Tasaki. The men’s team kept its NCAA Championship streak going in 2011-12, again reaching the Second Round of the NCAA Championship for the third straight year.
Women’s Tennis Team
Gachko has led the women’s program to an 106-58 record, ranking as the all-time winningest coach and second in win percentage (.646) among those who oversaw more than 17 matches. His charges have earned 57 All-Conference honors, as well as one Rookie of the Year award and four Player of the Year selections, while Gachko’s staff has been named the Coaching Staff of the Year once. Most recently, Gachko has coached the women’s tennis program’s first ITA Doubles All-Americans (Jessica Bourque & Lisa Tessitore) after winning the fall 2014 ITA Northeast Regional Doubles Tournament.
Gachko led the squad to the Skyline Conference finals in his first year and won the regular-season title in his second, again reaching the finals, while junior Dana Bacalla advanced to the finals of the ITA Northeast Regional Tournament individually. The squad again reached the conference tournament in 2007-08 as two players were ranked regionally by the ITA and has advanced to the finals of the Empire Championship in each of the last four seasons, coming within just one set of winning its first-ever title in 2011-12 as freshman Jessica Bourque was named the conference Rookie and Player of the Year. The squad also cracked the Top-20 in the Northeast region of the ITA Rankings in 2011 for the first time ever.
Prior to coming to Stevens, Gachko served as an assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach at The College of New Jersey in 2004 and 2005. During his second year with both programs, the men compiled a 12-3 record while the women recorded an impressive 14-3 mark. While at TCNJ, Gachko helped coach several All-Americans as both teams finished in the top-25 nationally.
A four-year letter-winner with the Lions’ tennis program as an undergraduate, Gachko started a co-ed club tennis team from scratch. In 2004, he guided his players to the National Campus Championships in Daytona, Fla. Gachko also steered his club team to a berth in the national event in San Diego in 2005.
Gachko began his coaching career as an instructor at Brunswick Hills Racquet Club in East Brunswick, N.J. where he helped develop and market new tennis programs while training many adults and nationally-ranked juniors. Gachko has also served as an assistant pro at the Sea Bright Tennis Club in New Jersey. While at Sea Bright, Gachko coordinated the junior program, club tournaments and adult clinics. He also gave private lessons. Gachko, who is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association, has previously served as the assistant director for Nike’s Tournament Tough tennis camp.
