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As the Tulane University Athletics Administration used a nation-wide search to find the next head coach its volleyball team, it needed only to look in its own backyard as Sinisa Momic was named head coach of the Green Wave, Director of Athletics Rick Dickson announced on Monday, March 23. After spending the last six seasons with the Green Wave in various assistant coaching roles, Momic becomes the eighth volleyball coach in Tulane history. He replaces Liz Kritza, who left the Green Wave to accept the head coaching job at Colorado in February. "After a thorough search by our committee, which was chaired by Senior Associate Athletic Director/SWA Maria Woods, we are pleased to announce the hiring of Sinisa Momic as the head coach of our women's volleyball program," Dickson said. "He brings a life-long journey of experiences - both as a player and as a coach - at very high levels including the past four years as top assistant in the Tulane program. "Sinisa has been a critical mainstay in recruiting, development and tactical game planning for our team and this continuity will afford us the greatest opportunity to continue the goal of achieving elite status with our women's volleyball program." Momic came to Tulane midway through the 2002 season and served the latter portion of that year and all of the 2003 season as a volunteer assistant under then-head coach Betsy Becker. He became the team's second assistant in 2004, and when Kritza took over the program in 2005, Momic was tabbed the team's No. 1 assistant and recruiting coordinator. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of player development, practice design and implementation as well as expanding Tulane's recruiting base. Over the last four years as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator, Momic was responsible for successfully recruiting the bulk of the 2008 roster that helped the team go 26-8, win the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. His recruits have gone on to rewrite the Tulane volleyball record book, including Sara Radosevic - who completed her career as the Green Wave's career leader in service aces (197) and kills per set (4.73) - Luna Rebrovic - who finished the 2008 season third in Tulane career assists (3,359) - and Bridget Wells - who whose 1,211 kills and 261 blocks rank 10th and 12th in Tulane history, respectively. "Obviously, this is a great honor and I am grateful that people here at Tulane University considered me and are appreciative of what I've done for the last six years," Momic said. "I've invested six years here, starting here as a volunteer assistant, working as the second assistant and serving as the top assistant for Liz over the last four years. New Orleans is a home away from home for me and this has worked out great for me. "I'm happy that I get to stay with my team keep working for them and with them, and continue recruiting for the program. I believe I have a clear picture of what needs to be done not only to keep this program where it is now, but stabilize it and keep it there every single year. We don't want to wait another four years to climb from the bottom to the top. I know what it took to get here and I know what it takes to stay here." A native of Zagreb, Croatia, Momic has been able to open the international pipelines of recruiting to the Tulane program which helped land four stars on the 2008 Green Wave team. Radosevic and Rebrovic both hail from his home town, and Radosevic became the first player in Tulane history to claim C-USA Player of the Year honors in 2008 and was a four-time All-America selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. In addition, Momic was able to land Kseninja Vlaksovic (Pozarevac, Servia) and Visnja Djurdjevic (Zitiste, Serbia) who claimed AVCA Midwest Region and C-USA Freshman of the Year honors in 2006 and 2008, respectively. During his tenure at Tulane, the Green Wave have seen their hitters earn AVCA All-America honors in each of the last four years as Radosevic claimed the accolade in each of her four seasons in a Tulane uniform while Wells earned the distinction in both of her final two years with the Wave. While Momic's collegiate coaching experience is limited to his time at Tulane, he brings a wealth of knowledge both as a player and a coach in his native land. During his professional career, Momic helped his teams win the Croatian Championship and Croatian Cup four times. First breaking into the professional ranks at age16, Momic was a member of the Junior National Team for the former Yugoslavia in 1990, the Croatian Junior National Team from 1987-90 and the Croatian National Team in 1996. Momic began his coaching career in 2000, serving as an assistant on the Mladost-Zagreb squad where he helped the team win both the Croatian Championship and the Croatian Cup in 2001. He also earned a coaching position on the 2002 Croatian Junior National Team where he helped the squad finish as one of the top 12 teams on the continent and qualify for the European Championship. Momic graduated from The High School for Economics in 1993 and earned his degree from University of Kinesiology-Zagreb in 2000, where he received certification as a senior volleyball coach. Momic comes from a family rich in volleyball tradition. His brother Sasa, who played for the Croatian National Team and continues to play professionally in Europe, was often a beach volleyball partner. His father, Slobodan Momic, has been involved in the sport in Europe for decades, including a stint as general secretary of the Croatia Volleyball Federation. He organized and planned the competition and training aspect of the team's 17-day excursion to Croatia in the summer of 2008, as the Green Wave barnstormed his native country playing club teams and national teams. Momic is married to the former Lacey Vicknair, whom he met while both were playing for their respective men's and women's teams on the same professional volleyball club in Austria. After moving to Croatia, Vicknair's team went on to win the Croatian national championship. Vicknair helped lead the Tulane women's basketball team to the NCAA Tournament from 1996-99 before turning her attention to volleyball where she lettered for the Green Wave squad in 1999 before turning professional. |
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