Great coaches in sports do the little things great — the intangibles that never see the light of day in the public’s eye.
Chicago Marist High School boys volleyball coach Jordan Vidovic is a textbook example.
“The thing that stands out the most is his dedication to the program,” Marist junior outside hitter Nathen Toth said. “He has spent hours upon hours working with us, planning for the season, and making sure the team was the most prepared we could possibly be.”
Toth wasn’t quite finished with his Vidovic dissertation.
“Whether it’s early on a school day or late on a Sunday, he is always willing to meet us at the gym to work on our game,” he added. “This never stops, not during the summer, the girls season during the fall (Vidovic is also Marist’s girls coach) or the winter. He always is looking to help his players.”
And this 2024 season was no exception. Vidovic, the 2024 VolleyballMag boys high school coach of the year, directed Marist (39-2) to the Illinois High School Association boys state title, trapped in a constant tornado of elite opponents — the whirlwind exit culminating with a two-set finals win, the team’s 20th victory in a row.
The VBM national coach of the year honor is Vidovic’s second with Marist since 2019 and third overall (he also has one VBM girls high school coach of the year accolade to his credit). This year’s crown was the RedHawks’ fourth in program history, including the 2019 Vidovic-directed first-place finish.
“Coach Vidovic deserves the coach of the year title,” Marist junior middle blocker Griffin McElroy said. “He puts in all his efforts to ensure our success. He’s a great coach because of his attention to detail and his determination to push us to improve.”
McElroy went as far to say Vidovic’s dedication “shocked the team during practice,” he said, “showing us that we had someone who believed in us, boosting our momentum for each game. We had an early season meeting with him. It set the tone for the season and motivated me to give 100 percent in practice every day.”
Vidovic, 285-43-1 in nine seasons at the boys’ helm, had nothing but the highest of praise for this year’s RedHawks’ crew, one that not only performed well on the floor but did so against the best of the best from Illinois and also outside the state. Marist, for the first time, ventured west to a tournament in Santa Barbara, California — believed, he said, to be the first Illinois team to ever play in a regular-season tournament in the Golden State. One of Marist’s two losses there came to traditional California and national power Mira Costa out of Manhattan Beach, California.
“It was awesome all the way around,” he said. “It was a special group with great pieces and parts. We definitely scheduled as difficult and challenging a schedule as we could. That gave us some very good perspective and showed us the things we needed to focus on and work on as we got to the end of the season.”
And Marist was ready at the end of the season, surviving an always tough Illinois final eight tournament, with two pressure-cooker matches on the final day against two teams from the same west-suburban-Chicago conference, perennial state power Glen Ellyn Glenbard West (three-set win) and an excellent Elmhurst York squad. Marist had lost to West earlier in the regular season and also owned a regular-season three-set win against York. Marist downed West for the 2019 state title.
“The last day of the season was against two extremely tough opponents,” Vidovic said. “I was impressed with the way the guys competed. They were tough. And I liked how they played after the 20s (20-point mark in sets). It was special to see. They put in the work. We had a lot of great leaders. I remember talking for more than 90 minutes about what we need to do to give ourselves a chance for all of this to come to fruition.”
Marist thrived in a 6-2 system, chaired by setters Christian Teresi (junior, Ohio State commit) and Ethan Kuziela (senior), who had plenty of offensive options to choose from with six RedHawks players registering more than 100 kills. Teresi still found time to top 300 kills, while Toth and senior outside Luke Brannigan were north of 200. Teresi, Toth, Brannigan and junior libero Rorey Donnelly (more than 300 digs) were the team’s primary passers.
“It was exciting the way they did it. We played a different style than the team that had won it before,” Vidovic said. “We were definitely more explosive and way more athletic and aggressive. We had moderate risk-takers who stepped up in the biggest moments. We definitely tried to push the pace of play as fast as possible. We knew we wouldn’t be the biggest team, so we let it suit our strengths and let our athletes spread out across the net. We were a risk-reward team.”
There’s always the debate, particularly, in Major League Baseball, as to how much a head coach/manager affects a team’s win-loss percentage. In the case of Vidovic, the answer, as his players tell it, is significant.
“Coach deserves as much recognition as anyone else,” McElroy said. “We’re part of a team. We all stayed consistent throughout the season, but it wouldn’t have been possible without him. Whether it was extra reps or lifting after practice, every effort contributed to our season’s success.”
Toth added: “He deserves a ton of credit. He went above and beyond with every practice plan. He made sure to scout before every game. He even worked in the offseason to encourage a group of us to stand out from the rest as leaders. This dynamic is what set us up to accomplish everything we did this past season.”
Vidovic, not surprisingly, attempted to downplay his role in yet another RedHawks’ banner season.
“It was me coordinating,” he said. “I let our guys do their thing. A little bit of managing, but more strategic. When we got to the end of the season, we were super locked in. The team played its hardest, was positive and prepared. We let the guys be themselves on the court.”
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