Men's Basketball Coaching Staff

Nail Sabanagic begins his second season as an assistant coach for the Cougar men's basketball program.

Sabanagic's association with Cougar head coach Tyler Jones came about when he returned to Lane Tech as a basketball coach while attending college. He was an assistant under Jones during the 2006-07 season and then took over as the head coach of the Freshmen "B" squad the following season. When Jones received the opportunity to coach at Concordia, Sabanagic jumped at the chance to work with Jones once again.

"It has been a great experience for me to be part of the basketball program at Concordia," says Sabanagic. "Last year, the team made some important strides forward, and we feel that we're ready to take another step up this year. The team is basically one big family; there is great communication between everyone, and everyone is on the same page with Tyler."

While the Cougar coaching staff will continue practicing many of the successful methods and techniques that they employed last year, Sabanagic relates one coaching adage that was impressed upon him last year: "Always be open to learning new things. We will look for anything that can make the team better, and our personnel here has the ability to adapt very well."

Sabanagic (whose first name is pronounced "Nile") is a native of Velika Kladusa in Bosnia who emigrated to the United States in 1996 as a political refugee. He and his family settled in Chicago where he attended Lane Tech High School, Loyola University and Wright Junior College.

Sabanagic is currently finishing up his college studies at Loyola where he will graduate with a double major in history and secondary education.

R.J. Pavlacka begins his second season as a graduate assistant for the Cougar men's basketball program.

Pavlacka is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan where he attended Northview High School. He played one season of college basketball at DePaul University in Chicago in 2002-03 when current Cougar head coach Tyler Jones was an assistant under Dave Leitao. Pavlacka met up again with Jones at a former teammate's wedding in 2008 and was excited to find out about the opening for the graduate assistant's position. Months later, Pavlacka became a part of Jones' first Concordia coaching staff. Pavlacka says of Jones, "Tyler is a great coach, teacher and leader, someone whose style of coaching I would like to emulate."

Of his first year at Concordia, Pavlacka states, "It was a learning experience, particularly learning how much time and effort go into not just the coaching during a game or practice, but also the 'behind the scenes' aspects." Yet, Pavlacka appreciates being able to work with the Cougar players. "The guys relate to me because I played college ball, but I'm not that much older than them. They are a great group to work with, always respectful and willing to listen and learn."

Pavlacka graduated DePaul in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in education (concentration in physical education). He is doing his graduate studies in exercise science at Concordia and looks to complete his Master's degree in the spring of 2010.