The Novi Sad Dukes promoted their last year’s offense coach, Predrag Nikolić, to Head Coach. He will replace Aleksandar Lazarević, who acted as a player coach last season.

Nikolić, who had been in charge of the teams offense since late 2005, and in whole of 2006 season in SELAF, stated that he will stay in charge of the offensive part of the team, but that there’s a desire for Dukes to start the forthcoming season with more coaches on the staff.

“Dukes need several more coaches to work together with me. For now, things are how they are; there’s a problem in general with coaches in Serbia”, said Nikolić.

Last year’s surprise team is in his opinion in better shape this year, but he wouldn’t say where they rank among their rivals in the new South Division. Dukes are in a division with Belgrade and Kragujevac, and are scheduled to play them twice, unlike teams from the North Division, who they will play once. This should add to the rivalry among teams from Serbia, and Nikolić agrees.

“Yes, of course it will, especially after last year’s outcome. In any case, it’s good for the sport. Healthy competition is always a positive thing. I wouldn’t want to predict anything at this time, because I don’t know the situation in Belgrade and Kragujevac.”

”Physically, we’re in better shape than we were last year. We have added players on positions we were thin at. There’s also been visible progress by players that have already played one year. The whole team is anxious for the season’s start”, he added.

He originally joined Dukes as a player until his interest turned to coaching, and has been with the team for three years.