Jankovic joins LA Tech women’s basketball coaching staff

RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr announced Monday that Bojan Jankovic has joined the Lady Techster basketball program as an assistant coach.

Jankovic spent the past four years as an assistant coach at Wyoming and has 15 years of collegiate coaching experience and boasts extensive international coaching experience on his resume.

“We are excited to welcome Bojan to the Lady Techster family,” said Stoehr. “He brings a great deal of experience on the court at the collegiate, professional, and international levels. He has represented his country as an assistant coach and won a medal in the Rio Olympics.

“His recruiting efforts the last four years at Wyoming and during his other collegiate stops have been instrumental in the success of those programs. His reputation and passion for the development of his players through the years has been impressive.”

In addition to his time at Wyoming, Jankovic spent time as an assistant coach in the collegiate ranks at Oral Roberts University (2010-15), Centenary (2006-10), University of the Ozarks (2005-06) and Texas A&M Commerce (2004-05).

Jankovic has extensive experience coaching at the highest levels of international basketball. He served as an assistant coach on the Serbian senior national team (2013-2017), including the team that won the gold medal during the 2015 European Championship which helped Serbia qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Serbians mounted an upset of the Australian’s 73-71 in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics before falling to Spain in the semifinals. The team respond with a 70-63 win over France in the bronze medal game.

During the summer of 2013, the Serbian squad finished fourth at the European Championship which was at the time the highest in the nation’s history. In 2014, the Serbian national team reached its best ever finish at the FIBA World Championships in Turkey finishing eighth. During his coaching career he has coached four players who have reached the WNBA: Ana Dabovic, Vicky McIntyre, Jelena Milovanovic and Sonja Petrovic.

“I am so excited about the opportunity to work for a great program with a great tradition like Louisiana Tech,” said Jankovic. “I am so happy I will have the chance to coach with amazing people like coach Brooke and coach Scott. I have known them for a long time, and I am so fortunate that I finally have the opportunity to work with them. They are great coaches but more importantly they are great people. I know we have a bright future, and I can’t wait to start my journey with the Lady Techsters.”

During his four years in Laramie, Jankovic helped lead the Cowgirls to three straight WNIT births and 70 wins over the past three seasons. This past season, Wyoming won 25 games, advanced to the Mountain West Conference Tournament title game and won three games in the WNIT before falling to Arizona in the WNIT Elite Eight.

His international ties landed Wyoming Marta Gomez (Spain), who scored more than 1,000 career points and was named the Mountain West Sixth Player of the Year twice. Gomez was just one of a number of players with international ties that Jankovic helped Wyoming land.

Fellow Spaniard Clara Tapia was a three-year starter at point guard while Karla Erjavec (Croatia) started all 33 games as a freshman this season. Ten of the 16 players listed on Wyoming’s roster last season were international.

During his time at Oral Roberts, he helped guide the Golden Eagles to the Southland Conference Championship in 2013. At ORU, Jankovic was responsible for international recruiting and worked with the post players, including Sarah Shelton (2013 All-Southland Conference) and Vicky McIntyre (led nation in rebounds and blocks per game in 2015). McIntyre was drafted 20th by the Seattle Storm, the first player in Oral Roberts history.

Also in his time at ORU, the Golden Eagles won 88 games and made four postseason appearances, including a 2013 trip to the NCAA Tournament and a pair of WNIT bids.

Jankovic spent four seasons at Centenary College in Shreveport, serving as assistant coach for three years before taking over the head coaching duties for the 2009-10 season. He also assisted at the University of the Ozarks for one year, where he helped the men’s basketball team achieve the most conference wins in team history.

“Bojan has a great demeanor and an ability to connect with student athletes that will serve those in our program well,” said Stoehr. “We are excited about the addition of Bojan to our staff and look forward to welcoming Bojana, Anja, and Vuk to Ruston and Louisiana Tech.”

Jankovic started his playing career with Radnicki, and he also played at Belgrade Basketball Club before coming to the United States. Collegiately, he played at Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, leading the team to the National Small College National Championship in 1996. He received his degree from the University of the Ozarks in 2006.

Jankovic and his wife Bojana have a daughter, Anja, and son, Vuk.