BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The CWPA Remote interview series continues as Salem University men’s head coach Rob Bullion and women’s head coach Justin Kassab talk with Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Director of Communications Ed Haas about recruiting and coaching at a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II institution located in West Virginia and more.
Currently is in his ninth year at Salem where he serves as head men’s water polo coach and aquatics director, Bullion previously also served as the Tigers’ head women’s water polo coach and head men’s and women’s swimming coach.
A two-time CWPA Division II Men’s Water Polo Coach of the Year (2012, 2016), Bullion’s teams have also excelled in the classroom. The Tigers have compiled the top men’s water polo team grade point average in the nation in each of the last four years.
In the pool, Bullion has coached one Olympian (Michael Izdinsky of the 2016 French Men’s Water Polo National Team) and three All-America selections: Michael Izdinsky (2013), Djordje Stavreski (2016, 2017) and current Tiger senior Milos Popovic (2018, 2019).
Bullion ranks second in Salem men’s water polo history in career wins with 44. He trails only his father, Keith Bullion.
Bullion earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from Gannon University, where he was a four-year water polo student-athlete.
The head women’s coach at Salem, Kassab also serves an assistant for both the men’s water polo and swimming programs. Further, he holds the position of an academic tutor for the athletics department.
Kassab joins the Tiger water polo and swimming teams after serving as goalie coach at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, Pa., from 2008-15 and assistant water polo coach for the Kingfish Water Polo Club in Sinking Spring, Pa. He tutored the 2011 Pennsylvania Mr. Water Polo goalie Caleb Lintz and was a part of five total state championships teams between the boys and girls teams, most recently with the boys in 2015.
Prior to that, Kassab served two stints as the head coach of the Mechanicsburg High School Water Polo team in 2010 and 2015 and was also an assistant swim coach for the Cumberland Valley Aquatic Club from 2010-2015.
The Mechanicsburg native was a four-year member and two-time Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Mid-Atlantic All-Conference selection at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He served as captain of the water polo team at “The Rock” and spent one season on the swimming team. Kassab starred scholastically at Cumberland Valley, where he was a High School All-America and a two-time All-State selection.
Kassab received his bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock in 2009 in creative writing with a minor in film and media studies. He earned his master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University in 2012.
