Comparing the teams of SELAF’s South Conference in 2007 there are many similarities, most notably they all have new head coaches. But in the case of last year’s finalists, the Vukovi from Belgrade, there’s a wrinkle to the story – four out of their five members of the coaching staff are from the US, led by the new head coach Aleksandar H. Pavlović.
Although of Serbian decent, this Serbian-American from California represents the first foreign head coach of any team in Serbia. He learned football first as a high school player in California, and after that he attended the prestigious University of Alabama.
A linebacker as a player, his focus will be on the defense, but on game day he says that he will be responsible for the offense as well, especially because their offensive coordinator for the year won’t be available from the start of the season. Unlike Pavlović though, he is a familiar face in Serbian football.
Miloš Blagojević from Santa Monica, who started three games for the Vukovi in last year’s SELAF season completed his studies at San Diego State University and will join the team to coach the offense in May. He played on the offensive and defensive line in his high school, college and SELAF career.
The players on offense will get additional help from Briton Burge and George Šarčević. Burge is another Californian and he’ll coach the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers, while Šarčević will, as a former left tackle at Princeton some twenty years ago work with the offensive line.
The only local on the staff is the new conditioning coach Dragan Vujačić who has for decades been working with athletes such as the Serbian NBA player Darko Miličić, in team and individual sports, both in Serbia and abroad. It is Vujačić who was responsible for an intense training program in preparation for the new season that made the players be in better shape than in prior years.
The new staff inherits a team that always has high ambitions, but that usually fell short when it came to winning the title. The team has lost two out of three finals to the Wild Boars, including the SELAF final last season and with the league expanding to Hungary and Austria the competition is stronger than ever. Even if Dukes’ convincing win over the Boars in the season opener means the champions from Kragujevac won’t be that competitive in 2007, they’ll still have to beat the Novi Sad Dukes in the South, plus the two new teams in the North.
Coach Pavlović admits his team is not yet where it can and needs to be, but that they have gradually improved and will be ready for their first game in Novi Sad ten days from now. The good news is that their starting quarterback and arguably the best player Andrej Tasić has recovered from a knee injury that prevented him to play in the final. In practices he has looked sharp and without any after effects from the tough injury.
Belgrade will host most of their games at the new field with artificial turf on Ada Ciganlija, an island on the river Sava – a park and a sports and recreation center in Belgrade. When completed, the field should seat around two thousand people, and there the Vukovi will try to at least win the South Conference, if not something more.