- 2024 ACWPC Division I Assistant Coach of the Year
- 2023 & 2024 MAWPC Champions
- 2023 & 2024 NCAA Championship Berth
- 2024 NCAA Championship semifinalist

Ilija Duretic returns for another season with the Fordham water polo team.

With Duretic on staff, the 2024 season set the new program standard for Fordham water polo, reaching the National Collegiate Championship semifinals.  The Rams went undefeated through the regular season, the lone team in the NCAA to do so, ending the year with a 32-1 record with its fourth consecutive MAWPC Championship and became the first non-California school to reach #1 in the national top 20 poll. 

Individually, Fordham had five players earn All-America honors in 2024, highlighted by Luca Provenziani becoming the team's first-ever First Team All-America selection by the AWCPC.  Thomas Lercari, the 2024 MAWPC MVP, and George Papanikolaou were named Third Team All-America with Lucas Nieto Jasny and Andras Toth receiving Honorable Mention All-America.  In addition to the program record 32 wins, the Rams also blew away team records for total goals (667), assists (533), and points (1200).

In 2023, Fordham picked up its third consecutive MAWPC Championship and NCAA Championship berth.  The Rams once again went undefeated in MAWPC play and were ranked all season long, finishing the year at #12.  Individually, three Rams earned All-MAWPC honors, led by George Papanikolaou, who as the League MVP and an ACWPC Third Team All-American, while Luca Silvestri was First Team All-MAWPC and an ACWPC Honorable Mention All-American.  Additionally, Balazs Berenyi received national acclaim, receiving the Elite 90™ Award for the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Water Polo Championship.  The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
 
Prior to Fordham, Duretic served as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s water polo programs at St. Francis Brooklyn for two seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23.  During those seasons, Duretic led the men’s team to back-to-back final appearances at the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship.  The squad also posted 21 wins in 2022, the most since the 2013 season, with Duretic being named as the 2022 NWPC Coach of the Tournament at the NWPC Championship.
 
Under Duretic's watch, Aleksa Sisakovic was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) twice, while he and Adonis Vlassis were both All-NWPC performers in both 2021 and 2022.
 
Duretic returned to the deck at St. Francis Brooklyn after serving as the boys’ and girls’ water polo head coach at Saint Andrew’s High School in Florida from 2019 to 2020.  Before he took over both programs at Saint Andrew’s, he was the water polo Head Coach for the Florida Atlantic University Water Polo Club from 2018 to 2019, guiding the team to a third-place finish in the State Championship.
 
A four-year standout student-athlete at St. Francis Brooklyn from 2013 to 2017, Duretic helped lead the Terriers to the NCAA Championship semifinals in 2013. During that freshman season, he was named CWPA Rookie of the Week twice, and scored three goals in the Terriers’ NCAA play-in game victory against UC San Diego. He was a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) Academic Honor Roll and received ACWPC All-Academic Superior Team honors throughout his career.
 
Duretic also achieved great success on the National level as a player. He was a four-time Junior National Champion of Serbia, as he was a member of the Serbian Junior National Team.