Miladinovic keeps
eye on WarriorsThe former star thinks
Hawaii can repeat as
national championHe misses playing. He misses his teammates.
And the feeling that comes with winning a national title?
Dejan Miladinovic can touch that every day, thanks to the ring he wears that is engraved with "2002 NCAA Champion."
MPSF Volleyball
All times Hawaii timeWhen: Today
Who: No. 1 Pepperdine vs. No. 5 UC Irvine, 2 p.m.; No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 Hawaii, 4:30 p.m.
TV: KFVE
Radio: 1420-AM, BYU-UH game only
After finishing his career last May as Hawaii's all-time block leader, Miladinovic was ready to move on with his life. He has the same hope for the Warriors today: to move on in the playoffs and hang another banner in the Stan Sheriff Center.
"There's two things in my life right now, working and cheering for the team," said Miladinovic, a life insurance agent with John Hancock Financial Services. "I think the team should do well. I told Eyal (Warrior captain Zimet) that anything short of the final four, he'd be held personally responsible.
"I'm an optimist. They have the weapons. They have the experience. They have the ring. It's all there. They know how it is to be at the final four. They should expect to be there."
Miladinovic has been a familiar sight at home matches this year. It would be hard to miss the 6-foot-7 Serb, who received his first-team Academic All-American plaque at a match earlier this month.
Miladinovic graduated with a 3.82 grade point average in business finance. He put off graduate school last year, going home to Kraljevo, Serbia, for two months to work through visa problems that jeopardized his remaining in the U.S.
"I gave myself a 50-50 chance to come back," said Miladinovic. "I was on a student visa and they've tightened up the regulations recently. I had plenty of time to think about the future.
"I want to stay in Hawaii for at least three years, looking at graduating with an MBA in fall 2005. After that, I don't know."
Miladinovic has slid into becoming a salesman with ease. His current sales pitch is personal.
"I am seriously looking for funding for grad school," he said. "I'm hoping someone will want to invest $20,000 in me. It would be a sound investment."
His goal is to eventually go into international banking. Volleyball has been put into his memory vault.
"I miss it, particularly when I go to a game," said Miladinovic. "But I like my career, I like being a grown-up. It was time to move on. Playing volleyball was good, but you take Hawaii out of the equation and it wouldn't have been the same. It is like nowhere else. And I had a good finish with our championship.
"To tell you the truth, I was always jealous to see the (four) Wahine banners in the arena. Now we have one and it was nice to have it go up. A final wrap to our season. But we need another."
Hawaii continued its title defense today in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal against Brigham Young in Malibu, Calif. Miladinovic felt the Warriors would make it to next week's final four at Long Beach State.
"I'm an optimist," he said. "I think they have a better chance of winning it this year than we did last year. The core of the team is back and Tony (Ching) has become the second gun. Last year, it was Costas (Theocharidis) alone and we were kind of predictable.
"They've made up for me not being there. Brian (Nordberg) is doing a great job. They have a better record now than we did. I'm not surprised a bit that they've done this well. I expected them to."
UH Athletics
