The Tacoma Defiance have reportedly filled out their coaching staff with a pair of hires that will give them both significant experience and organizational familiarity, tapping Paulo Nagamura to be their next head coach and former Seattle Sounders midfielder João Paulo to be his top assistant. Sounder at Heart’s Niko Moreno was the first to report the hires.
Per sources: João Paulo is back with the #Sounders organization but this time as an assistant coach for Tacoma Defiance. JP will be working his first coaching job under former Houston Dynamo head coach Paulo Nagamura who will take over Defiance.
— Niko Moreno (@elrolonw.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T18:03:20.307Z
Nagamura was most recently an assistant with the Chicago Fire, but also served as the Houston Dynamo's first-team head coach for most of the 2022 season. Although he went just 8-6-15 that season, he was the second youngest coach in the league and was known for his ability to help develop young players during his two seasons as the head coach of Sporting KC affiliate Swope Park Rangers/Kansas City II. The Brazilian also spent parts of 12 seasons in MLS as a player, mostly with Sporting KC. He had apparently been in consideration for the Sounders' third assistant job, which ultimately went to Ricardo Clark, who had originally accepted the Defiance head coaching position.
Nagamura's top assistant will be João Paulo, who is now getting into coaching after an illustrious playing career that only just came to an end. The Brazilian spent six seasons with the Sounders, who declined to offer him a new playing contract at the end of last year. João Paulo apparently took the offseason to consider his options before agreeing to take the Defiance assistant job.
