Marshalltown Community College is happy to announce that Raphael Nascimento will be the new head soccer coach starting early May. This will be Nascimento's first college head coaching job.

Nascimento love of soccer started early in his life. He was born in Boston, Mass. and traveled to Brazil when he was just six months old and grew up there in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

"There I learned the love and passion of soccer in Brazil. The country that breathes soccer 24/7," commented Nascimento.

At age nine Nascimento was scouted to play for the America Mineiro and spent six years at the club before transferring to Clube Atletico Mineiro for one year before returning to America Mineiro for two additional years.

In 2010, he had the opportunity to be part of Ipatinga Futebol Clube, a team that was part of Serie A national division in Brazil before deciding to move to the America that same fall.

Nascimentois not a stranger to MCC. He began his student-athlete career at age 19 at MCC in 2010. He spent two years in Marshalltown with very different seasons. His freshman year he played in 14 games, starting 9 and scoring three goals. He was nominated captain for his sophomore year but an unfortunate in injury to his ACL and surgery allowed him to play in only one game.

After finishing at MCC he transferred to AIB College of Business for a year and then finished his college playing career at Grand View University in Des Moines. The team was ranked #1 in the nation in 2013-14 and in 2014-15. Both years the team made it to Nationals and in 2014-15 they finished sixth in at Nationals.

After graduating in 2015, Nascimento move to Florida to continue his player career. He played with the semi-pro team Tampa Marauders before being invited to be part of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2016 in the North American Soccer League (NASL). In 2016-17 Nascimento played indoor soccer for the Florida Tropics SC where he was able to travel to Barcelona, Spain to play with the FC Martinenc in the First Catalan Division. He then returned to Des Moines for the summer and played with the Des Moines Menace for the second time in 2017. The first time being in 2012. He then played indoor in 2018 for the St. Louis Ambursh.

He then decided to take a year off from playing and had the opportunity to return to where his soccer career started back at MCC to be an assistant soccer coach. "I was able to focus on coaching at a higher level and had the opportunity to be an assistant at MCC where I was able to learn from two amazing coaches, Rafael Martinez and Chris Fuchsen." During the 2018-19 season MCC won the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) title and finished fifth at the NJCAA D1 National Tournament.

In 2019-20 saw another change for Nascimento with theopportunity to return to Florida to play professional indoor again with the Orlando Seawolves. 

Nascimento is looking forward to returning again to MCC and taking on the head coaching position. "I'm excited to be back in the city of Marshalltown and be part of Marshalltown Community College. I'm looking forward to bringing my expertise to the soccer program with the support of my wife Miranda and our two kids Bella and Neo. 

Former Head Soccer Coach Rafael Martinez is pleased with MCC's choice for his replacement. "I am very happy to hear the new that the MCC administration has chosen Raphael Nascimento as the next head soccer coach. Rapha has an incredible coaching future ahead of him. He was a very important addition to the coaching staff in 2018 and I am sure that he will bring success to the MCC soccer team and its student-athletes."

MCC Athletic Director John Kriebs offered the position to Nascimento in the evening on Wednesday, April 29. "We are very fortunate to get someone as qualified as Coach Nascimento to take over our Men's Soccer program. He has a stellar reputation, and an impressive resume, being an alumnus of Marshalltown Community College and familiar with the area was a big plus. We look forward to Coach Nascimento, hitting the ground running."