blank

Jovan Vavic

Position: Head Coach Experience: 18th season Career Record at USC: 391-64 (.859)

10-TIME NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR • 9-TIME MPSF COACH OF THE YEAR
10 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS • 10 CUTINO AWARD WINNERS

Jovan Vavic, one of the top water polo coaches in the country, serves a dual role as the head coach of both the USC men's and women's teams. He has led both to national championships three times in the same school year (1998-99, 2003-04 and 2009-10), and has now lifted the Trojans to an unprecedented four consecutive national championships with the USC men's run to the 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 titles.

He now holds 10 national championships (seven men's and three women's), and is a 10-time National Coach of the Year and nine-time MPSF Coach of the Year between the two programs. He also has seen his players win 10 Peter J. Cutino Awards.

Now in his 18th season at the helm of the men's program, Vavic has improved his career coaching record on the men's side to 391-64 (.859). For the second time in three years, Vavic's 2011 team boasted a program-high eight All-Americans. That group finished off a fourth straight national title run with a 24-3 overall record thanks to a 7-4 win over UCLA in the final. In the calendar year of 2010, Vavic swept both sides of the game, following 2010 National and MPSF Coach of the Year awards on the women's side with 2010 National and MPSF Coach of the Year with the men in leading the Trojan men to their third consecutive national championship.

That 2010 campaign saw Vavic's Trojans defy the national predictions of a fourth-place finish in the conference by instead forcing their way to successfully defending their NCAA crowns with a third straight national championship. A 12-10 overtime win over host Cal in the 2010 title match finished off a 28-2 record for the MPSF and NCAA champions. In 2009, Vavic had guided the Trojans to a 26-2 record en route to USC's second straight national championship. In the 2009 title match, the Trojans beat UCLA 7-6 to win USC's fifth NCAA championship. Soon after, Vavic was named the National Coach of the Year, and he would see his players sweep the Cutino Awards for the third time in his career, as J.W. Krumpholz and Kami Craig went back-to-back as the 2009 and 2010 Cutino Award winners following the USC women's run to the 2010 NCAA Championship.

In 2008, the USC men were unstoppable. The Trojans claimed the program's third MPSF Championship on the way to the best season in program history with a 29-0 undefeated mark that cumlinated in the 2008 NCAA Championship for USC's fourth national title. Vavic's 300th career men's win was notched on Oct. 12, 2008 in a 12-7 win over Cal 12-7 in the SoCal Tournament semifinals.

Going 19-3 overall, Vavic's 2007 Trojans claimed the MPSF Tournament championship, placing a program-best seven players on All-MPSF teams and reaching its third straight NCAA title match. USC posted its first undefeated regular season in 2006, as its overall winning streak grew to a program-record 44 straight victories. Vavic was named the MPSF Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career, and the Trojans finished 2006 with a 26-2 overall record after a last-second loss in the NCAA championship match. It was USC's second straight trip to the final, as Vavic had guided the Trojans to their third-ever NCAA Championship and a program-best 26-1 record in 2005.

For his success in guiding USC to the NCAA crown in 2005, Vavic was named the AWPCA National Men's Coach of the Year. His Trojans also claimed the 2005 MPSF Championship, and Vavic earned himself MPSF Coach of the Year honors as well. At 26-1, USC posted its most wins in history and broke another record by closing out the year on an 19-game winning streak.

In his tenure as men's head coach, Vavic boasts a winning record against all opponents on the men's side of the game, recording only two losses in 17 years against teams outside the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. He is 279-62 (.818) against MPSF teams since 1995.

Vavic came to USC in 1992 as an assistant men's water polo coach, joined John Williams as Troy's co-head coach in 1995 and took over the men's head coaching reins in 1999 after Williams retired. He and Williams were named National Coaches of the Year in 1998 after leading USC to its first-ever national championship. They also were named MPSF Co-Coaches of the Year in 1996 after leading USC to the conference title. In fact, in the 1998-99 season, Vavic did something no other coach has accomplished as his teams won three national championships. In addition to capturing the 1998 men's and 1999 women's titles, his 1999 men's club team won the Men's Senior National Club Championship. In 2003, Vavic pulled a coaching double sweep when he was named 2003 National and MPSF Coach of the Year for the men and 2004 National and MPSF Coach of the Year for the women.

Vavic has been with the USC women's program since its inception in 1995, and the 2004 women's team became the first team in NCAA Championship history to go undefeated (29-0) during the regular season. USC's 25-3 overall mark in 2010 culminated in the women's program's third national championship and 13th straight 20-win season. Overall, Vavic's career record on the women's side stands at 413-131 (.759) in 18 seasons as head coach. Vavic earned his 300th career win with the Women of Troy in the third-place game of the 2007 NCAA Tournament -- a 13-6 win over UC San Diego on May 13, 2007.

Vavic oversaw the women's water polo team's move from Division II in 1995 to Division I in 1996, and in 1997, he guided USC to its first-ever Division I National Collegiate Championships appearance and a seventh-place national finish while the 1998 team took fifth nationally. The 2000 squad added another strong showing as the Trojans finished second. Since 1999 when the program was fully funded, Vavic's record is 326-58 (.849). In 1999, 2004 and 2010 Vavic was named the women's National and MPSF Coach of the Year.

Vavic spent the 1991 season as an assistant men's coach at UCLA after coaching three seasons (1987-90) at Palos Verdes (Calif.) High, posting two undefeated league seasons (1988-89). In the summer of 2003, Vavic was the head coach for the USA's World University Games team that narrowly missed a chance to play in the medal round after losing to Serbia and Montenegro 12-10 in a shootout. In 1995, Vavic served as an assistant water polo coach for the U.S. WUG team.

Vavic, a native of Yugoslavia, graduated from UCLA in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in history. He and his wife, Lisa, have four children: Nikola, Monica, Marko and Stefan.

JOVAN VAVIC WITH USC MEN