Anel Lilic, a 2009 graduate of Habersham Central High School, has done many things within the soccer world in the state of Georgia.
His latest achievement: being named Head Men’s Soccer Coach at the University of North Georgia.
Early days
Before coaching the sport he loves, the Bosnian native moved to Georgia and ultimately played his high school home matches at John Larry Black Field in Mt. Airy.
His days playing in a Raider uniform were successful with the program shining as region champions all four years and making it to the Final Four in the state playoffs in 2007.
After moving on from the hallways of HCHS, Lilic signed to play for Emmanuel College where he continued a successful career.
In 2012, Lilic was named to the National Christian College Athletic Association South All-Region Team
Post-grad
Lilic graduated from Emmanuel in 2013 and almost immediately went to UNG as a graduate assistant (GA).
One of the assistant coaches at Emmanuel was a former player for the Nighthawks and was approached to take the graduate assistant position, but chose a different route and recommended Lilic in his place.
The GA position lasted from 2013-2016.
In the spring of 2016, Lilic came back home to HCHS to help head coach Ric Wallace with the ‘C’ team.
With the GA spot coming to a close, Lilic decided to stick around in a volunteer capacity.
While volunteering for two years, he also made the move to coach high school soccer.
Over a two-year span with the Flowery Branch High School girls’ soccer team, Lilic led the Lady Falcons to a 41-4-2 record. His two seasons there ended in a semifinal and finals appearance.
In 2019-20, he moved on to Georgia Southern and was an assistant with the women’s team in Statesboro. The 2019 season ended in a first-round defeat to No. 1 seed South Alabama, 0-2, in the Sun Belt Tournament. The 2020 season ended with a 2-1 first-round loss to Little Rock in the Sun Belt Tournament.
Lilic has also coached youth club teams, been involved in the Regional Development School for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United’s youth academy, and helped the US Men’s Paralympic Team in their preparations for the World Cup.
Still, the Nighthawks were never too far away.
Back to North Georgia
“I had the opportunity to come back (to UNG) as a full-time assistant (coach) in 2021 and that’s what I thought the role was going to be for quite some time,” Lilic said.
In his two years as a full-time assistant, the Nighthawks finished 6-11-1 and 6-10-2.
Then, in May 2023, Dr. Patrice Parris – the same man who brought Lilic in to fill the GA position 10 years prior – announced his resignation as head coach after 16 years to make a move into public education in Forsyth County, according to a release.
UNG Athletic Director Mary Rob Plunkett and President Michael Shannon opened up a national search to find the next head coach.
As the summer wore on and the season came closer, it was clear they hadn’t found the right person and Lilic received the call to tell him they were putting it in his hands.
In the interim
Lilic said he was recruiting for the program when he got a call telling him he’d be at the helm for the Fall 2023 season as the interim head coach.
“I was actually recruiting in North Carolina when I got the call on June 30 that they were going to give me the opportunity as the interim. It was kind of a trial by fire,” Lilic said. “There was obviously some pressure as it was a trial run with the interim tag and knowing the position would be open again. We wanted to do everything we could do to instill the trust that we were going to run the program the right way and head toward being successful, which I think we did this year.”
In his trial by fire, Lilic and the Nighthawks withstood the flames and achieved a slew of firsts.
The season finished with a 9-8-2 overall record, including an unbeaten, 7-0-1, record at home. The nine overall wins was the most wins in six seasons for the program. It was just the third winning season since 2011.
From Oct 7-21, Lilic led his squad to four consecutive wins. It was the first time the program had won four or more consecutive matches since the 2004 season. During that stretch, the Nighthawks also topped No. 16 Clayton State, 2-1, in Dahlonega.
North Georgia (UNG) made it to the Peach Belt Conference semifinals for the first time since 2017 and finished the season with five all-conference selections and the freshman of the year.
All things considered, a solid on-field interview for Lilic as the university’s search committee was looking for the next full-time head coach after 16-year head man Dr. Patrice Parris resigned in May.
“I think the boys really bought in and, having a relationship with them from being around them before, they gave us everything they could this year,” Lilic said. “We could have pushed on to do a little bit more, but we’re happy with the standard we set for the program. We want to continue building on that.”
Lilic said, while out recruiting, having the interim tag made it tough to get kids to commit to come play in Dahlonega because of the uncertainty of who would ultimately hold the position.
‘The real deal’
In a team meeting at the UNG Soccer Field House at Lynn Cottrell Park on Dec. 12, Shannon and Plunkett revealed Lilic to be the fifth head coach in program history.
“After an exhaustive national search, it became clear that the right person for the job was already here on campus,” Plunkett is quoted as saying in a release from the university. “Over the past few months, we were impressed with results on the field, the team’s competitiveness, and, more importantly, his leadership and genuine care for our student-athletes. The players have been extremely responsive to his leadership style, and we look forward to seeing where he takes the program as our head coach.”
Shannon, in the same release, said that Lilic “has authored a new trajectory for our men’s soccer program, and we are incredibly excited to see the product he can build as our head coach.”
Lilic said it was tough being in the head coach’s seat, recruiting for the program and having his name in the proverbial ring while interviews were being conducted and he was waiting to see what would come of it.
“The whole process was exciting,” Lilic said. “I know that Dr. Shannon, Mary Rob and the whole search committee did a thorough job to look at all the candidates that had come into play. I’m not going to say it was the most easy process, especially being in the job and in the program and still have to sit around and wait on the decision. But I trusted that, whatever decision they were going to make, I was going to be content and happy with.
“We did the best we could and I’m just happy they saw that as well with not just from the on the field perspective, but also the culture and the things we wanted to do with the program.”
Lilic is, of course, excited for this opportunity to be head coach of the program he’s been involved with for the better part of the last decade.
“I’m happy to have all (the administration’s) support and support of the rest of the coaches in athletics,” he said.”It is a pretty tight-knit community, especially at our university.”
Now that he’s the head man, Lilic’s attention turns to the recruiting trail and making his program the best it can be.
With a few key role players coming back next season, there is still the need to fill spots left by players that graduated. Those will be filled by a mix of incoming freshmen and, “potentially some mature guys” who have played elsewhere and can “be key leaders and potentially have an immediate impact.”
While he was surprised at the timing of Parris stepping away from the program, Lilic said it’s worked out.
“Pat had taken a different career route and it kind of worked out timing-wise and I think, at this point, I was ready to take on that head coaching role whether it was interim or full time or whatever initially,” Lilic said. “Again, we did well this year, but there’s still things to improve on.
“Now that it’s the real deal, it’s the real deal.”
