On 27 February 2015, he was appointed as the head coach of the Croatian national team, leading the team at the 2016 European Championship, 2016 Summer Olympics and at the 2017 World Championship. On 30 January 2017, it was reported that Babić was sacked as the head coach of the national team of Croatia due to a poor run of results and finishing fourth in the World Championship finals held in January in France.