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 ...

(USC) men's and women's

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, 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 water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

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 represents the United States, United States of America internationally in men's water polo. They are the only squad outside of Europe to medal in the Water polo at the Summer Olympics, men's Olymp ...

. 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 has added members as far east as Massachusetts. The conference participates at the NCAA Divisio ...

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 Operation Varsity Blues was the code name for the investigation into the 2019 criminal conspiracy scandal to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. United States federal prosecutors made the invest ...

. 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

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, which was then part of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He grew up in

Herceg Novi Herceg Novi (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Херцег Нови, ) is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of ...

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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

(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 is a coastal city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated on September 7, 1973, the city has a population of 42,287 as reported in the 2020 United States census. The city sits atop the bluffs of ...

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

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 athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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

Olympians Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...

he coached were J. W. Krumpholz, Flora Bolonyai, Anni Espar, 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 offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

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 quarterly 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'' (kn ...

''. 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, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

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

. 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 Rancho 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 United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Biography Daughter of Manik Talwani, a geophysicist, from, Punjab, India, Talwani received a Bachelor ...

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 water polo coaches People from Herceg Novi People from Palos Verdes Estates, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni USC Trojans men's water polo Yugoslav water polo coaches Year of birth missing (living people) Yugoslav emigrants to the United States USC Trojans coaches