New College of Florida has named Cesar Markovic, who has compiled over 200 career head coaching victories throughout his career, the second head coach in Mighty Banyans Men's Soccer history.
"It's an honor to be the head coach at this fine institution, and I want to thank Mariano Jimenez and President Corcoran for their confidence in me," Markovic said. "I am really looking forward to spending time with the players and accomplishing great things in the future."
Markovic has compiled 217 wins as a head coach, including over 150 at the NCAA DI level. He has departed as the winningest coach in the history of four different programs (Hunter College, Saint Peter's, Stony Brook, and NJIT) and will be joining his seventh different college program as head coach at NCF.
"There was an outpouring of recommendations for coach Markovic from administrators and student-athletes across the college athletics community," athletic director Mariano Jimenez Jr. said. "The number one thing people spoke about was his character and love for the student-athletes.
"He's a great fit for the direction of the New College community."
Markovic began his coaching career at St. John's Prep in Astoria, N.Y. from 1991-93, leading the school to Catholic High Schools City and Sectional titles in 1993.
Ahead of the 1995 season, Markovic was named the head coach of his alma mater, Hamilton College, an NCAA DIII program. In each of his five seasons at Hunter, he led the program to CUNYAC (City University of New York Athletic Conference) regular season titles. He was named Skyline Coach of the Year in 1995 and the CUNYAC Coach of the Year in 1999, a season in which he led Hunter to an NCAA DIII Tournament Regional Semifinal appearance. Overall, he went 58-26-6 in his five seasons at the helm.
From there, he went on to coach at the NCAA DI level for two decades.
His first job at the DI level saw him serve as the head coach at Saint Peter's for four seasons (2000-03). He posted a 35-40-6 record leading the Peacocks. In 2003, he was named the MAAC Coach of the Year, as he led the program to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a MAAC championship.
Markovic then moved on to Stony Brook, where in his second DI head coaching position, he led the Seawolves to a 58-59-22 record in seven seasons at the helm (2004-10). His run at Stony Brook included winning two American East Conference Championships (2005 and 2009) and two NCAA Tournament appearances (2005 and 2009).
Markovic was named the head coach of NJIT, another DI program, ahead of the 2011 season and wound up staying two seasons leading the Highlanders to a 15-21-2 record, which included a 10-9 mark in 2012, which became the highest win total in program history.
He then went on to serve as the head coach at Siena for seven seasons from 2013-19, where at his fourth DI program he posted a 47-65-22 record. His time at Siena saw the Saints post their first-ever undefeated home season (2014), win multiple games in the MAAC Tournament for the first time in program history (2015), and earn their first win over a nationally ranked opponent (2016 vs. No. 22).
Markovic returned to the sidelines in 2023 as the head coach of Ave Maria, an NAIA program and fellow member of the Sun Conference, and led the Gyrenes for two seasons.
Markovic holds a USSF A License, the highest granted in USA Soccer, an NSCAA Premier License, and was among the first American coaches granted a Brazilian Professional Coaching license after serving as an apprentice/assistant for Sao Paulo FC. He also served as an assistant coach in the United Soccer League with the Long Island Rough Riders in 1997 and 1998.
A native of Queens, N.Y., Markovic had a stellar playing career at Hunter, where he is a member of the College's Hall of Fame. He earned his bachelor's degree from Hunter in 1992 and his Master of Science from Hofstra University in 1997.
He is married to Tijana and has four children: Danilo, Alessandro, Nikola and Viktorija.
