TEMPE, Ariz.—Babson College head men's tennis coach Michael Kopelman was selected as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Coach of the Year on Wednesday. 

Kopelman, who is Babson's first ITA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year honoree in program history, guided the Beavers to both team and individual success during the 2025-26 campaign. The Green and White captured its second consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season and tournament titles and finished the year at 19-5 overall after advancing to its second straight NCAA Tournament regional final. 

Along the with the team success, which included the Beavers rising to a program-best eighth in the ITA rankings earlier in the spring, Kopelman's players have earned a pair of historic firsts. Sophomores Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) and Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) captured the program's first ITA New England doubles championship and made their program debut at the ITA Cup back in the fall, while senior Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) was one of 32 players selected to play in the upcoming NCAA Division III Singles Championship. 

Merson, who is currently ranked 17th by the ITA, could be joined by Wang, who was named as the first alternate for the NCAA singles draw. 

Kopelman and his assistants, Kartik Erodula and Andrew Irmie, were tabbed as the NEWMAC Coaching Staff of the Year for the third time in the last four seasons earlier this month, and eight of his players earned all-conference honors as the Green and White went unbeaten in league play of the season straight campaign.

Now in his eighth season at Babson and third as the Beavers' Director of Tennis, Kopelman has guided his program to three NEWMAC championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. His 2024-25 squad set a single-season program record for wins by going 22-3 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in school history.