in january 2008, vulić moved to russian premier league's fc luch-energiya vladivostok. he returned to croatia in 2009, taking over nk rijeka. in february 2010, he took charge of nk istra 1961. vulić also managed rnk split on two occasions. his biggest success with this team was reaching the final of the 2014–15 croatian football cup where they were beaten on penalties by dinamo zagreb.