J.P Valadares

Assistant Coach J.P Valadares enters his second season at the University of Iowa this season. Valadares joined the Hawkeyes after three seasons as an assistant coach at Southern Mississippi, where he worked primarily with goalkeepers.

Valadares has served as director of goalkeepers for the Olympic Development Program (ODP) in Mississippi and also was part of the ODP South Region staff.

In his first season, Valadares helped guide Iowa to the second Big Ten Tournament Championship in program history. The Hawkeyes downed three ranked opponents for the first time during the postseason run.

Under Valadares' guidance, senior goalkeeper Macy Enneking tied for fifth in the nation in shutouts, posting a new school single-season record 12.5 clean sheets. Enneking finished the year ranked third for career shutouts (22) and fourth in career wins (26) among all-time Hawkeye goalkeepers. Enneking became one of four players in program history selected for First Team All-North Region honors and was an All-Big Ten Tournament Team selection. She was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree and earned weekly recognition on Sept. 5 by Top Drawer Soccer and Oct. 3 from the Big Ten Conference.

Valadares was tasked with designing Iowa's non-penalty set pieces, resulting in eight goals, including one score during the Big Ten Tournament and another during the NCAA Tournament

Iowa finished 13-5-4 overall in 2023, including a 6-0-1 non-conference start and a 3-4-3 record in conference play. Iowa went 3-2-1 against ranked competition. The Hawkeyes earned the eighth and final seed to the Big Ten Tournament by a single point in the league standings before downing No. 12 Michigan State (2-1), No. 5 Penn State (1-0) and No. 12 Wisconsin (1-0) en route to their second trophy in four seasons. Iowa was the lowest seed in Big Ten history to win the conference tournament. 

Following the Big Ten Tournament Title, Iowa ascended to the highest major national rankings in program history, jumping to No. 14 in the College Soccer News ranking and No. 17 according to Top Drawer Soccer. Iowa finished the regular season at 30th in the RPI, earning an NCAA Tournament fifth-seed.

The Hawkeyes earned the second NCAA Tournament win in program history with a victory over Bucknell, 2-0. The match was played before a program-record crowd of 2,639 at the Iowa Soccer Complex. Iowa fell in the Second Round to fourth-seeded Georgia, 3-2, at Riggs Field in Clemson, South Carolina. 

The Hawkeye defense earned a program record 13 shutouts during the 2023 season. Iowa outscored opponents 36-17 with stifling advantages in shots (307-164) and shots on goal (149-75). 

Fourteen different Hawkeyes contributed to Iowa’s 36 goals. Senior Kelli McGroarty, a transfer student from La Salle, led the way with 18 points. McGroarty and seventh-year Josie Durr tied for an Iowa-best seven goals, with juniors Elle Otto (13) and Kenzie Roling (11) also contributing double-digit point figures. 

Fifth-year Samantha Cary was named Second Team All-Big Ten. Freshman Sofia Bush was an All-Big Ten Freshman, while redshirt junior Zoë Bessert earned conference sportsmanship honors. In the classroom, five Hawkeyes were named CSC Academic-All District, a program record.

At Southern Miss, Valadares was the first goalkeepers coach to lead the team to back-to-back seasons with a save percentage of .800 or higher. In 2022, the Golden Eagles set a program-best .860 save percentage.

Over the past two seasons, the Golden Eagles posted a .95 goals against average, an improvement from 1.38 goals against over the previous three years. Valadares coached his keepers to a school record .83 goals against average during the 2021 season.

Valadares was the third position coach in C-USA history to guide multiple goalkeepers to conference goalkeeper of the week recognition during the same season. Under the guidance of Valadares, Kendell Mindnich earned multiple weekly honors, as well as all-conference and all-conference tournament recognition.

Prior to Southern Miss, Valadares spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons as goalkeepers coach for the Pearl River Community College men’s and women’s soccer programs.

During his stint at PRCC, Valadares helped develop some of the top goalkeepers in the MACJC. Across both teams, Valadares trained four conference weekly award winners and one All-Region XXIII selection.

The men’s and women’s teams each advanced to the conference semifinals in both of his two seasons at Pearl River.

Prior to coaching, Valadares was a decorated collegiate and youth player. He competed for William Carey during the 2011, 2016 and 2017 seasons at goalkeeper, leading the Crusaders to the 2011 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.

A Brazil native, Valadares returned home to attend law school at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, after his freshman season at William Carey. In 2014, he returned to William Carey to finish his bachelor’s.

Valadares now has a Masters in Education from William Carey University. He is married to wife Gillian Valadares.