J.P. Valadares - Women's Soccer Coach

J.P. Valadares

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
joaopaulo.reisvaladares@usm.edu

J.P. Valadares enters his third year as an assistant coach with the Southern Miss soccer program and primarily works with the goalkeeping unit. Valadares also helps in the development of set pieces for the Golden Eagles.

Valadares was the first goalkeeper coach in program history to record an .800 save percentage or higher in two-straight seasons. The Golden Eagles had an average of .845 with a.829 in the spring of 2021. It was an improvement of more than .100 compared to the average of the previous three seasons. Southern Miss' .860 save percentage was the highest in program history. The saves per game average went from 4.45 to 5.34.

Southern Miss goalies averaged a .95 GAAVG in the last two seasons combined compared to 1.38 GAAVG in the previous three seasons. Under Valadares' guidance, Kendell Mindnich and Alex Helbling combined for a record-breaking .83 GAAVG during the 2021 season.

Valadares was the third coach in C-USA history and the first at Southern Miss to record two different goalkeepers as C-USA Goalkeeper of the Week during the same season. He worked with and helped develop Mindnich achieve multiple Goalkeeper of the Week awards as well as All-Conference honors and All-Conference Tournament honors.

In the run to reach the conference tournament final of fall 2021 the team scored two out of the four total goals from set-pieces.

Valadares comes to Southern Miss after spending the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the goalkeepers coach for the Pearl River Community College men's and women's soccer teams.

During his time at PRCC, Valadares helped develop some of the top goalkeepers in the MACJC. With Valadares' assistance, men's goalkeepers Kobe Lie (Hattiesburg, Miss / North Forrest High School) and John Bowman (Bay St. Louis, Miss. / Bay High School) earned NJCAA Goalkeeper of the Week honors and MACJC Goalkeeper of the Week honors. On the women's side, Valadares helped groom Paige Horsnell (London, England) into an All-Region XXIII selection. In addition, Horsnell and Candyce Martin (Gautier, Miss. / Gautier High School) each earned the MACJC Goalkeeper of the Week accolade.

With the assistance of Valadares, the Pearl River men's and women's soccer teams advanced to the MACJC Semifinals in 2018 and 2019.

Valadares also gained valuable coaching experience on the club side as an assistant coach for the Hattiesburg Futbol Club U-19 Men's team from 2017-2019.

Prior to entering the coaching field, Valadares was a decorated player at the collegiate and youth levels. He competed for the William Carey Men's Soccer team during the 2011, 2016, and 2017 seasons where he was a standout goalkeeper. In 2011, Valadares and the Crusaders advanced to the NAIA Final Four.

At the youth level, Valadares played for the America Futebol Clube's U-17 team, which is a first division club in Brazil. Before transitioning to soccer, Valadares played futsal for the Minas Tenis Clube's U-14 and U-15 teams.

After his freshman year at William Carey (2011), The Belo Horizonte, Brazil native returned to his homeland to attend law school at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

In 2014, Valadares came back to Hattiesburg to finish his bachelor's degree and he graduated from William Carey in May of 2018 with a Bachelor of General Studies degree.

Valadares is currently pursuing a Master of Education degree in Interscholastic Athletic Administration from William Carey, and is expected to complete the degree in August of 2020.