By Wally Donaldson
The Oshawa Express
The makeup and skill set of coach Vaso Vujanovic, long regarded as an elite bench boss on both college and university levels, is well documented across the province and perhaps the country.
The longtime Oshawa resident and former semi-professional soccer athlete in Yugoslavia had mastered an uncanny record as a head skipper during his lengthy tenure at Durham College.
Indeed, Vujanovic carved out a stellar 128-35-7 record in 17 seasons with the men’s side and followed up in impressive fashion with a 119-37-11 record as head coach of the Lady Lords over 10 seasons.
But if ever this likeable teacher of soccer and Durham College Sports Hall of Fame inductee, having taken on the challenge at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), was ever relegated to pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat in order to continue his most impressive conquests, it may very well begin in September.
The UOIT Ridgebacks men’s soccer program, under the tutorship of Vujanovic, are about to embark on their very first official season of Ontario University Athletics (OUA) play.
The players before him are tenacious and willing to learn. With only six exhibition games (or friendlies in “football” parlance) under their belt, having achieved a single victory last fiscal season, Vujanovic will for the first handful of games be relying on raw talent as the Ridgebacks take the necessary baby steps.
It is his goal and desire that his troops learn yet one more element of the game on a high university level with each touch of the ball and maybe, just maybe, the Ridgebacks may find themselves about the middle of the pack when all is said and done.
“I understand that we will have to crawl before we walk,” says Vujanovic, “but I will be working with a good base. Last year, I was trying players at different positions to see what they could do.
“And there was some confusion on the field. But they were also playing together for the first time.”
Ridgebacks will have an opportunity for quality time out of the gate when they open their first three games on the road. They play at Brock, York and McMaster before their grand home opener on September 18 against the Western Mustangs.
With confidence in his goal keeping and most of the back line, Vujanovic emphasizes the need for a solid centre defender to control the back line. He is hoping that very individual is only a short drive away from Vaso’s Field at the UOIT campus.
Yannis Giannottis, a third-year student at the University of Toronto, is seriously considering a refreshed educational and athletic change at UOIT.
“He has been accepted here and if he does choose to come here, we will have a terrific player with good leadership experience,” says Vujanovic.
In the meantime, Vujanovic figures about seven “good” players from last year’s roster will make the plunge to the OUA level with this spanking new squad. Overall, he figures about 12 players, including two keepers, will complement new recruits for the start of the campaign.
“The interest was there when we first put the team together last year,” recalls Vujanovic, “and to be frank, some were good players and some were not. I kept 26 players because I needed the numbers to work with. I feel we can be competitive against the lower teams in the league, but we are missing the quality against the better teams.”
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