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Jozsef Forman did not take long to turn the University of New Orleans volleyball program into a winner as the program's 11th head coach in school history.
While the team came up short of reaching the NCAA tournament when they fell in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game in 2008, Forman has the program heading in the right direction and growing on the minds of those at the national volleyball scene.
Coming off a summer in which he served as an assistant coach on the USA Select Volleyball team at the Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia, Forman had come back to the Crescent City with heightened goals.
In his second season on the Lakefront, Forman directed the team to a second-place finish in the Sun Belt tournament, defeating the top-seed and host institution Florida International along the way. The finish equaled the best finish in school history, joining the 2000 team. A team that played strong throughout the season, the second-year head coach saw his team win a school-record 13 conference games and finish the season ranked #60 in RPI, 50 spots higher than the previous best Privateer finish.
The fourth best season in winning percentage in 26 years as a Division I program, the team featured two All-Conference first-team selections for the first time in school history. Wins over the Big 12 (Texas Tech) and SEC (Auburn) along the way, represented the first victories by UNO over members of those conference since 1982 and 2002, respectively.
Academics, also at the forefront for Forman, the Privateers had their first ESPN the Magazine all-district academic selection since 1987 when Jaci Bayley was named to the all-District second team.
The season prior, Forman pointed the squad to a 16-16 mark and a third place finish in the SBC's West Division. In doing so, the Privateers clinched a berth in the conference tournament for the second straight season, the first time that UNO had accomplished such a feat since 2001-02. During the 2007 season, the Privateers faced a tough schedule which included nationally-ranked teams Washington and LSU. The team pulled off one of the biggest in-conference wins in recent history, a 3-2 victory over Western Kentucky during the regular season. WKU entered the match, 10-0 in Sun Belt play.
"Jozsef Forman will take UNO volleyball to the next level," UNO athletic director Jim Miller said upon introducing Forman, "His ability to recruit both international and American players is the main reason Mississippi State has turned around its program.”
While at MSU, Forman helped head coach Tina Seals, guide the Bulldogs to one of the biggest turnarounds in the country. The Bulldogs, which had a ratings percentage index of 267 in 2003, were ranked among the top 70 in the country last year.
MSU set a school record with eight Southeastern Conference wins in 2006, established school records for homecourt wins while apart of the coaching staff each year and helped the team record the best overall team GPA in school history, when the Bulldogs recorded a 3.48 mark in 2007.
Prior to coaching in Starkville, Forman was an assistant in 2003 at Baylor. During his stint at the top assistant under Brian Hosfield, the Bears recorded a win over sixth-ranked Kansas State, which is the biggest win in program history to date.
"The respect that Jozsef has throughout the volleyball community was reflected in something Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin told me,” Miller said. “He called and jokingly begged me to take Jozsef out of the SEC because he was making it tough on the rest of them."
Prior to coaching at Baylor, the native of Hungary, Forman established himself as one of Europe’s top volleyball coaches during a successful coaching run starting right after graduating from Semmelweis University in Hungary in 1989, when Forman began his coaching career as the head coach of the Vasas Sports Club. He guided that team to the 1990 Hungarian Cup title and the fifth-place finish in the European Professional Champions League.
A year later, while serving on a staff with famed Chinese champion coach Sun De Lee, Forman’s Vasas team again captured the Hungarian Cup and posted another fifth-place finish in the European Professional Cup Winner League.
In total, Forman directed his club teams to top eight finishes in the European Professional Championship League in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1999.
Between stints in club volleyball, Forman served as head coach at his alma mater, Semmelweis University volleyball team, leading the team to top eight finishes in the Hungarian Championships in both 1992 and 1993. Additionally, his team won the first Sibillini International Volleyball Tournament in Italy in 1993.
In addition to his club duties, Forman served three years at the helm of the Hungarian junior national team before taking the head coaching position for the Hungarian women’s national team for four years. His 1993 junior national team finished 10th in the 1993 European Championship and went to place 5th in the World Championship held in Brazil.
Four years later he guided the Hungarian women’s national team in Japan, Canada, Italy, Czech, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. In 1997 team had wins over the host Canada, Germany, and the United States en route to a first-place finish in the 1997 Canada Cup.
Following his run at the helm of the Hungarian national team, Forman established the NRK—Nyiregyhaza Club in 1999, developing a team that became middle Europe’s top women’s volleyball club. His teams claimed the Hungarian Championship, the Hungarian Cup three years running (2000, 2001, and 2002), and the Middle European Champion League(2000).
While at MSU, Forman returned to his native Hungary 2005 summer to serve as associate head coach of the Hungarian men’s national team, which defeated Serbia-Montenegro, runners up in the 2005 World League Championships.
As a player, Forman was a member of the Hungarian Junior championship team (Ujpesti Dozsa Club) from 1979 through 1983 and was the college national champion of Hungary from 1984 through 1989 at Semmelweise University.
Forman is a 1989 graduate of the Hungarian University of Physical Education, where he also obtained a master's equivalent diploma in physical education and sports science from the Hungarian University of Physical Education.
The 43 year old head coach also holds a FIVB International Coaching Certificate. He is married to the former Agnes Hargitai of Budapest, Hungary, and they have two sons- Peter, 13 and Adam, 10.
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Courtesy: UNOPrivateers.com
