Last year’s semifinalist, the Novi Sad Dukes, will go into the 2008 season with new people at the head of the team, after the previous management was dismissed following a player’s meeting on January the 9th.
Perhaps strange, but since the players were in power to do so as still the official founders of the team, Dukes will from now on be run by three of last year’s players; Kosta Stojaković as team president, Ivan Međugorac as athletics director and Jovan Plećaš as technical director. They will replace Miloš Gagić and Zorica Hofman, although Gagić was practically not with the team for the last year. Aleksandar Lazarević, another current player that was in charge of the team chose to leave his position.
The root of the problem was the decision of the previous management to not play in the Serbian league alongside CEFL, due to financial restrictions, and also the team’s ongoing problems with practice facilities during the winter months. As it stands now, Novi Sad is likely to play in two leagues, similar to Belgrade and all the other teams except Ljubljana and Bratislava.
Additional changes were made in the team’s coaching staff. Since Dukes had the smallest coaching staff out of any team, as they only had Predrag Nikolić and conditioning coach Marko Milinkov, former player Dragan Kanura will from now on be the defensive coach, assisted by Miloš Stanković. Kanura will also coach Dukes’ B team; quarterback Čaba Juhas will assist with the offense and safety Filip Vezmar will coach the flag football junior team.