The league vice-champion and former champion, the Vukovi Belgrade, have hired a new Head Coach for the 2009 season.
A year after they failed to defend their CEFL championship, being for the first time without a true Head Coach, relying on two player-coaches, the Vukovi will turn to the more proven method of running their team, so for next season, their coach will be John D. Harper.
Last of the St. Pölten Invaders from Austria, where he was a Head Coach, Harper has been a coach since 1987, starting that year in Italy, where he has spent most of his time with various teams. In 1999 he joined the Bergamo Lions, and his last two years with that team, in 2000 and 2001, they reached the top in European competition, winning Eurobowl, at that time in consecutive years.
He later moved on to be the Head Coach of several Italian teams, including the Taranto Hawks and Catania Elephants. He also had stints in Germany and one year in a small NCAA school, Claremont-Mudd college.
The Vukovi and Harper were in talks as soon as the CEFL season was over in late October, but they made it official yesterday.
In his almost a two decade-long coaching career, other than Head Coach, he was an assistant coach in various capacities, from receivers, to defensive backs to offensive line coach, including being offensive and defensive coordinator.
Counting only Head Coaches, Harper will be the third at that position in team history, after Igor Hoffman who led the team from 2004 to 2006, and Aleksandar Hadži-Pavlović who coached the team in 2007.