Back on the pool deck: Jovan Vavic is coaching the San Francisco Water Polo Club’s 18u team through the Junior Olympics. Stephen Lacy, the founder of the Club, played for Vavic at USC.
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Good for Jovan. This is the lane he should spend the rest of his coaching career in, developing young players.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-court-reinstates-former-usc-coachs-college-admissions-scandal-conviction-2025-05-30/
“US court reinstates former USC coach’s college admissions scandal conviction”
Ouch that is one heck of a horrible roller coaster to ride.
That sucks. He has been traveling and coaching at clubs throughout Northern and Central California. I heard on the pool deck he is at San Francisco Water Polo Club. If that is correct, they have a book of knowledge that those kids need to be studying.
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i don’t think san francisco water polo club is going to want to have someone under investigation coaching any youth
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Everything has been out in the open for years. They know what they got themselves into. No reason to worry about Vavic
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Agreed. The status of his case doesn’t mean he is a different quantity than he was a month ago or whenever he started with them.
all I know is that my son would love to be coached by him! I think those boys are lucky to get get his wealth of expertise…
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Agree! What an experience that would be.
Seriously? I’d way rather my kid be taught by the average Joe who’s ethical than Jovan. I also don’t think Jovan is best suited to teach kids. If he’s still gonna coach, which of course is fine and he’s free to do, I think he’s better suited for college, senior national team, or pros. Unless he’s chilled out and changed his approach. Hope it works out for him and SF club
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I don’t blame anyone who feels that way, but I don’t have any problem with Jovan at this point. He coached kids in his camps for 2 decades plus. I couldn’t think of a coach i’d rather learn the fundamentals from than him.
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And, I may add, he coached kids well. He also allowed kids from his camps to stay and watch SC team practices in the evening - the fiery Jovan was a special sight 
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It’s really a comprehensive opinion by the Court of Appeals; you can read it in full here. (Warning: It’s 67 dense pages.) https://aboutblaw.com/bioF
The long and short is that Jovan gets a new trial on the two honest services wire fraud charges but stands convicted on the federal program bribery charge. (On retrial, the government could only prosecute him for the alleged “pay my kids’ private school tuition” bribe, not the “pay USC” bribes.)
Where does that leave him? There’s almost zero chance the Supreme Court takes up the bribery charge, so it’s the end of the line for him on that. He’s still facing a retrial on the two honest services counts, but I suspect there’s a very rational plea deal to be made here, since a conviction on those likely wouldn’t add much to his sentence on the existing bribery conviction.
Is Jovan looking at prison time? Probably, but not certainly. The base offense level under the federal sentencing guidelines is probably 12, with maybe + 8 or so for a $100,000 valuation of the underlying bribe. (The amount of the loss is the big variable here; he’s not likely to get any reduction in levels for cooperation, etc.) At offense level 12, with no criminal history, he’d be looking at 10-16 months in prison, but at level 20 he’d be looking at roughly three years. The guidelines are not mandatory, and the judge would have discretion to sentence him to house arrest or merely supervised release, but my guess would be that Jovan will be sentenced to serve at least some time. FWIW.
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I’m not a lawyer and sounds like you might be (so correct me if I’m wrong). That payment for his kids private school seemed the most problematic element to the case for him.
You’re right that the tuition thing is the hardest part of the case for Jovan. Though he had (and has) at least a shot on that score: pages 31 and 32 of the opinion explain why his defenses on the tuition front are at least plausible.
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I am somewhat surprised of the lack of talk about the Quarter final game in 18U B between LAMO and SF. Guy Baker - former UCLA coach has been with LAMO and Vavic - former USC coach was with SF
Jovan Vavić vs. Guy Baker–two towering egos, two legendary resumes, and one quarterfinal match at the 2025 Junior Olympics that had it all.
There are decades of stories and rivalries between these two men - dating all the way back to 1990.
Back in 1990, Vavić was on the UCLA sidelines as an assistant… until he wasn’t. After that season, he was replaced by none other than Guy Baker, who took over in 1991 and promptly led the Bruins to a 2nd place NCAA finish and won Coach of the Year honors. From there, the powder keg was lit.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, these two alpha coaches turned USC (Vavić) and UCLA (Baker) into collegiate powerhouses. The 1996 NCAA final, where Baker’s Bruins edged Vavić’s Trojans 8-7 in a classic showdown. And it wasn’t just the big games–petty drama followed close behind.
1999 MPSF First Round? Vavić missed it–suspended thanks to a red card after a heated USC-UCLA match during the final match of the regular season, forcing Vavic to sit out the following game. Baker had lodged a complaint about a halftime altercation (after Vavić’s Trojans had beaten UCLA 10-7). USC lost that MPSF game 10-9 to Pacific, with Vavić watching from the stands.
Now flash forward to this weekend at Junior Olympics 2025.
Same faces. New teams. Same fire.
Jovan Vavić coaching San Francisco. Guy Baker with Lamorinda.
Quarterfinal: Lamorinda 16 - San Francisco 14.
And yep, Jovan got another red card.
It was the perfect storm–two legendary coaches barking orders, barking at each other, and shaping the future of the sport. The first 2 names that come to mind are Reed Hanna (‘25, SF - headed to USC) and Tristan Tucker (‘26, LAMO - bound for UCLA) carried the legacy into the water. It could not have been scripted any better.
This wasn’t just a game. This was decades of ego, competition, and coaching brilliance crashing into four quarters of fire.
I wonder how many people in the stands knew what was happening on the pool deck. I am sure that both Coaches were pretty hyped to play that game.
2 absolute water polo legends!
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Thanks for the write up! Brings back memories.
As a Nor Cal kid, I played at Concord Water Polo in the 80s with Rick McNair, Colin Keely, Russ Stryker and all the other notables from the east bay and what now seems to be three clubs in the form of LAMO, CC United and 680. Ron Richison knew what he was doing as coach.
If there was a better collection of high school talent than Concord Water Polo (Miramonte, Campolindo, Acalanes, Las Lomas, Berkeley…) then I don’t know what club it was.
Glad to hear LAMO today has some top talent on the pool deck as well as the in the pool.