Jovan Vavic (born ) is the former head coach of both the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC) men's and women's

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

teams. In 2012, he was interim head coach of the

United States men's national water polo team The United States men's national water polo team is the representative for the United States of America in international men's water polo. The team is the only non-European squad to win medals in the men's Olympic water polo tournament, most re ...

. While coaching USC he won the National Coach of the Year award 15 times, and the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

Coach of the Year award 13 times. He was fired by USC in March 2019 in the wake of his indictment in the

2019 college admissions bribery scandal In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was code named Operation Varsity Blues. The investigation and rela ...

. After his indictment, Vavic was arrested on charges of accepting at least $250,000 in bribes. In April 2022, he was convicted of fraud and bribery. However, the conviction was later overturned and a new trial ordered.

Early and personal life

Vavic was born in former

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

, republic of

SR Montenegro The Socialist Republic of Montenegro ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Crna Gora, Социјалистичка Република Црна Гора), commonly referred to as Socialist Montenegro or simply Montenegro, was ...

. He grew up in

Herceg Novi Herceg Novi ( cyrl, Херцег Нови, ) is a coastal town in Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of the Herceg Novi Municipality with around 33,000 in ...

, and emigrated to the United States in 1984. Vavic graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(bachelor's degree in history, 1992). He and his wife, whom he married in 1990, have four children. He is a resident of

Rancho Palos Verdes, California Rancho Palos Verdes (Spanish for "Green Sticks Ranch") is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, neighboring other cities in the Palos Verdes Hills, including Palos Verdes Estate ...

Water polo coaching career

From 1987 to 1990, Vavic coached water polo at

Palos Verdes High School Palos Verdes High School (PVHS) is one of three public high schools on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, Southern California, USA (the others being Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (formerly Rolling Hills High School) and Rancho ...

. Vavic was the head coach of the U.S.

team at the 1995

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

in 2003. In 2012, he was interim head coach of the

. He became a coach at

(USC) in 1992, and was the head coach of the USC Trojans men's and women's water polo teams. Vavic led both teams to national championships three times in the same school year. He won the National Coach of the Year award 15 times, and the

Coach of the Year award 13 times. In 2015 he was named

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Coach of the Century. His teams won 16 national titles, including

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

with the USC men's water polo teams. Vavic coached 14 Peter J. Cutino Award winners. Among the Olympians he coached were

J. W. Krumpholz James W. "J.W." Krumpholz (born September 22, 1987) is an American water polo player. He is a member of the United States men's national water polo team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the championship game, the USA team won the silver medal, d ...

, Flora Bolonyai,

Anni Espar Anna Espar Llaquet (born 8 January 1993) is a Spanish water polo player who won the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona. She also won the silver medal at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics. College career Espar joined the Uni ...

, McQuin Baron, and Thomas Dunstan.

Indictment in bribery scandal and Trial

Vavic was arrested and

indict An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...

ed in March 2019 in the

. He was accused of signing two "recruits" who had never actually played competitive water polo, to help the students gain admission to USC, in exchange for $250,000 in bribes from the students' parents."Scandal Engulfs USC: Jovan Vavic, Head Men’s & Women’s Polo Coach Arrested Over Fake Admissions Scheme,"
''

Swimming World Magazine ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. In additions to these charges, Vavic was also accused of helping recruit other coaches into the student admissions bribery scheme as well. He was charged with

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

to commit

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

. The charge carries penalties of a prison term of up to 20 years, and up to $250,000 in fines. Vavic was fired by USC in the immediate wake of his indictment. On March 12, 2019, Vavic was arrested. Vavic's supervisor, senior assistant USC athletic director Donna Heinel, would be fired and arrested the same day as well. Following his arrest, Vavic put his Ranchos Palos Verdes home on the market and offered to sell it for $2.499 million. On March 10, 2022, Vavic's criminal trial officially began in a Boston federal court. On April 8, 2022, a federal jury in Boston convicted Vavic of fraud and bribery. On September 15, 2022, Boston-based U.S. District Judge

Indira Talwani Indira Talwani (born October 6, 1960) is a judge on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Biography Talwani received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in 1982, from Radcliffe College. She received a Juris Doctor ...

overturned Vavic's convicted and ordered for a new trial to take place. Talwani cited the significance of USC accepting payment from the students’ families as a reason for overturning the conviction, and that evidence did not show that the payments “served the defendants’ interests and harmed the university’s.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vavic, Jovan American water polo coaches Living people Montenegrin sports coaches People from Herceg Novi People from Palos Verdes Estates, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni USC Trojans men's water polo Yugoslav sportspeople Year of birth missing (living people)