The start of the 2022-2023 DePaul men’s basketball season is less than a week away, but even though Tony Stubblefield’s roster is set in stone, he continues to make additions to his coaching staff. On Friday, Stubblefield hired Nemanja Jovanovic as a special assistant to replace Rob Judson.

Judson left DePaul in April for an assistant coaching position at Illinois State.

Jovanovic, a former SMU Mustangs director of player development, is expected to join DePaul’s coaching staff and his role will be special assistant to the head coach. 

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work at the prestigious DePaul University under Coach Stubblefield,” Jovanovic said in a statement. “My family is extremely excited about the opportunity to live in Chicago and be a part of this community. There is work to be done and our staff will find a way to do it.”

Jovanovic boasts an impressive resume prior to joining DePaul. He spent seven seasons at SMU, most recently serving as director of player development (2018-2022), special assistant to the head coach (2016-2018) and director of video services (2015-2016). 

Jovanovic has also spent time coaching overseas.

During his time in Serbia, Jovanovic coached NBA Draft picks Nemanja Bjelica (2010, Round 2, 35th overall to Washington), who is currently playing for the Golden State Warriors; and Nemanja Nedovic (2013, Round 1, 30th overall to Phoneix). 

The new DePaul coach also has some NBA experience on his resume. In 2016, he served as a member of the Utah Jazz coaching staff during NBA Summer League.

Jovanovic holds a FIBA coaching license and has basketball coaching certifications from the Basketball Academy Belgrade (Serbia) and the Basketball Academy Madrid (Spain).

Jovanovic’s first game on the DePaul bench will take place this upcoming Monday, Nov. 7 when they host Loyola (MD.) at 6:45 p.m. CDT at Wintrust Area for the season opener.