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Jovan Vavic

Position: Head Coach Experience: 19th season Career record at USC: 413-759 (.759)

9-time MPSF Coach of the Year

11-time National Coach of the Year

11 National Championships

10 Cutino Award winners

Head coach 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 been with the USC women's program since its inception in 1995, and has led both teams to national championships three times in the same school year (1998-99, 2003-04 and 2009-10). An 11-time National Coach of the Year, he boasts a grand total of 11 combined national titles -- including a current five-year run with the USC men -- and has coached 10 Cutino Award winners.

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.

The USC women's 25-3 overall mark in 2010 culminated in the women's program's third national championship. In 2011, USC made its eighth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, finishing fourth with a 19-8 overall record. Last year, the 2012 Trojans fought back to the NCAA title match for the fourth time in five seasons and finished up No. 2 in the nation with an overall record of 23-6 to improve Vavic's overall career record on the women's side to 413-131 (.759) as he now enters his 19th season as the USC's women's head coach.

In his 15th season at the helm of the men's program, Vavic guided the Trojans to their second straight national championship in winning the 2009 NCAA men's title. Soon after, Vavic was named the National Men's Coach of the Year, and he would see his Trojans 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. The first Trojan pair to sweep the awards was Juraj Zatovic and Lauren Wenger in 2006.

Since 1999 when the program was fully funded, Vavic's record is 325-58 (.849), including eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Between 2003 and 2010, Vavic has been named either MPSF or National Coach of the Year (or both) every year but one. His 2004 women's team won the national championship and became the first team in NCAA Championship history to go undefeated (29-0). In 1999, 2004 and 2010, Vavic was named the women's National and MPSF Coach of the Year.

Vavic oversaw the team's move from Division II in 1995 to Division I in 1996. He guided USC to its first-ever Division I National Collegiate Championships appearance in 1997 and a seventh-place national finish while the 1998 team took fifth nationally. In 1999, USC won the national championship, and Vavic was named the National Coach of the Year and the MPSF Coach of the Year. The 2000 squad added another strong showing, finishing second nationally.

Vavic came to USC in 1992 as an assistant men's water polo coach, joined John Williams as co-head coach in 1995 and took over the men's program 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 were also 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: besides 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 17 seasons at the helm of the USC men's program, Vavic has improved his career coaching record on the men's side to 391-64(.859) with national championships won in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Vavic, a native of Yugoslavia, spent the 1990 season as an assistant men's coach at UCLA. Previously, he coached three seasons (1987-1990) at Palos Verdes (Calif.) High, where he led Palos Verdes to two undefeated league seasons (1987-89). Vavic also served as assistant coach to the U.S. team at the 1995 World University Games, and was the head coach of the team in 2003.

In November 2012, Vavic was named interim head coach of the U.S Men's National Team, and led Team USA to World Championship qualification with success at the 2013 UANA World Aquatic Championship Qualification Tournament in Canada.

Vavic 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.

VAVIC AT USC
1996 MPSF Men's Co-Coach of the Year
1998 National Men's Co-Coach of the Year
1999 MPSF Women's Coach of the Year
1999 National Women's Coach of the Year
2003 MPSF Men's Coach of the Year
2003 National Men's Coach of the Year
2004 MPSF Women's Coach of the Year
2004 National Women's Coach of the Year
2005 MPSF Men's Coach of the Year
2005 National Men's Coach of the Year
2006 MPSF Men's Coach of the Year
2008 MPSF Men's Coach of the Year
2008 National Men's Coach of the Year
2009 National Men's Coach of the Year
2010 MPSF Women's Coach of the Year
2010 National Women's Coach of the Year
2010 MPSF Men's Coach of the Year
2010 National Men's Coach of the Year
2011 National Men's Coach of the Year
2012 National Men's Coach of the Year

Men's career coaching record: 420-64 (.868) • 18 seasons
Women's career coaching record: 413-131 (.759) • 18 seasons