Barry University Athletics

Petsa Ivanovic joined the Buccaneer men's soccer program as the seventh head coach in school history in the spring of 2022. In three seasons in The Shores, he has led the Bucs to a 31-18-8 record.

In 2024, the Bucs went 6-9-3, 3-5-2 in the Sunshine State Conference. They finished seventh in the league, advancing to the conference tournament and earning a 2-0 win over #2 seed Florida Tech in the quarterfinals. Three Buccaneers made the All-SSC Third-Team, including senior midfielder Joram Bogers, senior keeper Rafael Furlani and sophomore defender Martin Gasztos. Bogers, Gasztos and senior forward Juan Simoniello were named to the Academic All-District team.

The Bucs went 13-5-1, 9-1-0 in the conference and won the SSC regular season and tournament title in 2023, marking the first time in program history that the Bucs have taken both championships in the same year. The Bucs dominated the All-Conference team, with David Polanco winning Player of the Year, Iker Berruezo named Defensive Player of the Year and Rafael Furlani the Keeper of the Year. Ivanovich and his staff were also recognized as the Coaching Staff of the Year for the second straight year. Polanco was named the tournament most outstanding player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Oier Calvillo, Nicolas Villalobos, Peekay Stoffle and Scott Neil.

They led the Bucs back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, advancing to the round of 16. Polanco was named the D2CCA South Region Player of the Year, and was joined on the First-Team by Berruezo. Furlani and Villalobos both made the Second-Team. Berruezo also became the first Buccaneer named First-Team Academic All-American since Mark Anderson in 2011.

In 2022, the Bucs won the SSC regular season championship after a 12-4-4, 6-1-3 mark. Barry placed three members on the All-SSC First-Team in Polanco, Berruezo and Daniel Schaal, while Jordi Ramon made the Second-Team and Villalobos was named the Freshman of the Year. Ivanovich and his staff were also recognized as the Coaching Staff of the Year. Barry advanced to the final four of the NCAA tournament at the Fall Sports Festival in Spokane, Wash.

Ivanovic previously served as the top assistant coach for Chris Grassie at Marshall for five years. He helped lead the Herd to lifting the 2020 College Cup National Championship Trophy in the spring of 2021. He joined the team as a volunteer coach in July of 2017 and became a full-time assistant before the 2018 season. Ivanovic has played an important role in bringing incredible talent to Marshall and moving the Herd from Conference USA contender, to National Champion.

While Ivanovic coached in Huntington, the men's soccer staff was named the United Soccer Coaches Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2019 and again in 2020-21, as well as being honored as the National Coaching Staff of the Year in 2020-21.

Ivanovic helped lead the Herd to a pair of Conference USA semi-final round appearances in 2017 and 2018, then back-to-back C-USA Championships in 2019 and the spring of 2021 after the 2020 fall season was postponed due to COVID-19. The Herd also had three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances as well as being ranked in the United Soccer Coaches/NCAA top 25 poll 30-straight weeks and in the top ten 17 times.

Over his five seasons, Marshall had 32 players named All-Conference, 25 times honored as league players of the week, ten on the C-USA All-Tournament team, 14 named All-Region, six named all-academic, six Scholar All-Region, four United Soccer Coaches All-Americans, two Scholar All-Americans and four players taken in the MLS Superdraft. Players have been honored 73 times on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll (GPA of 3.00 or better) and 22 have received the Conference USA Academic Medal for a GPA of 3.75 or better.

Ivanovic rejoined Grassie in Huntington after working together for three years at the University Charleston from 2012-14. Originally from Palanka, Serbia, Ivanovic moved to Mladost Apatin academy at the age of 12. He made his professional debut when he was 17. Ivanovic spent another year playing second division in Serbia before arriving at the University of Charleston in 2008. In 2009, Ivanovic was one of the key players in Charleston's squad that ended the season in the Elite 8 and ranked number seven in NCAA Division II. For his efforts on the field Ivanovic, who scored seven goals, including four game-winners, and added eight assists, earned All-American accolades. In 2010 he moved to NCAA DI Jacksonville University in Florida where he captained the team for two years earning Academic All-Conference First team award in his senior year.

After graduating from Jacksonville University with a degree in business management in 2011, Ivanovic returned to West Virginia to play PDL soccer for the WV Chaos, which at the time was at coached by Grassie. After working together in the PDL, Grassie brought Ivanovic on staff at Charleston, first as a volunteer, and then as an assistant coach.

In his three years at UC, Ivanovic played a big role in helping the Golden Eagles to the school's first NCAA National Final in 2014. UC also spend most of the season as the No. 1 nationally ranked team. Ivanovic took key roles in video analysis, development of nutrition and fitness programs as well as coaching training sessions. He was also instrumental in getting UC's Junior Varsity team up and running.

While at UC, Ivanovic also earned a graduate degree in strategic leadership in December, 2014. He currently holds a USSF D license and worked with numerous youth soccer clubs in the Charleston/Huntington area for eight years, winning three state championships along the way.