USC men’s and women’s water polo head coach Jovan Vavic has announced the promotion of current men’s associate head coach Marko Pintaric to co-head coach for the USC men’s program. A former National Player of the Year under Vavic in the late 1990s, Pintaric has been on the USC coaching staff for the past 15 seasons. He currently serves as the scouting director for the USC women and will now take over duties as co-head coach alongside Vavic for the USC men.

“Pinta has been an integral part of our program as a player and now as a coach,” Vavic said of Pintaric. “He has developed some of the best goalies in NCAA history, and his energy, knowledge and innovative mind has brought a great deal of excitement to our team.”

Pintaric has spent a considerable amount of time in charge of USC’s talented goalkeeping corps. In the 2012 Olympic Games, there were four recent USC goalies in the water for their respective nations — Joel Dennerley (Australia), James Clark (Australia), Flora Bolonyai (Hungary) and Tumua Anae (USA). In 2000, Trojan Bernice Orwig won Olympic silver with the USA, and current Trojan goalies McQuin Baron (USA) and Victória Chamorro (Brazil) both are likely candidates for spot on their 2016 Olympic rosters.

Pintaric’s coaching knowledge alongside Vavic has helped the Trojans claim eight NCAA Championships on the men’s side and three on the women’s side since he joined the staff in 2000. A 1998 NCAA champion himself, Pintaric majored in communication and received a master’s in communication management at USC. A native of Croatia, Pintaric also served as as assistant to Vavic in an interim role for the USA Men’s National Team in November 2012.

“Pinta is loyal, committed, hard-working and an unselfish young coach,” Vavic said.”USC water polo would never be what it is today without Pinta’s great contributions. I am thrilled that he has accepted this new position and am looking forward to many more great years together.”