Chris Cuellar

ccuellar@dmreg.com

Major League Soccer experience has served the Des Moines Menace well in recent seasons.

And John Pascarella is joining the local Premier Development League club straight from the sidelines of Sporting Kansas City.

General manager Matt Homonoff said Thursday that Pascarella has been hired as the Menace’s new head coach, taking the reins on an amateur squad that has won three straight Heartland Division titles.

“This all stems from me wanting to be a head coach,” Pascarella said Thursday. “Having had that discussion with (Sporting head coach) Peter Vermes over the past couple years, the jump wasn’t going to happen in MLS, so it made sense to chase that dream now. I need to prove and show that I have what it takes to be a head coach.”

Pascarella, 50, has been on staff at Sporting Kansas City under Vermes since 2009. The top-flight team won the MLS Cup in 2013 and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2012 and 2015, with Pascarella on the bench for a 2013 home win in the Open Cup over the Menace.

Des Moines has gone 33-5-4 in the three regular seasons since.

“We’re hoping (for) another seamless transition — similar to what we had with Mike Jeffries and Mike Matkovich,” Homonoff said.

“John is fully invested in being head coach of the Des Moines Menace.”

Jeffries and Matkovich were the Menace’s two previous head coaches, both experienced in different capacities with the Chicago Fire. Matkovich left in September after two successful seasons and securing the Menace a spot in the 2017 edition of the Open Cup.

Pascarella was a professional goalkeeper before starting his coaching career and has served as a head coach in the PDL with the Northern Virginia Royals.

He has resigned with Sporting K.C. — where he helped the technical staff with goalkeepers and college scouting — to take the summer season gig in Des Moines. The MLS club has a youth club affiliation in Iowa, and now Pascarella can extend that experience locally.

“I really want to be instrumental (creating a dynamic that leaves a legacy with the organization and players that pass through there,” Pascarella said. “We want to continue the tradition that the Menace has — which is being an excellent organization that scouts and acquires the best college talent from across the country and operates a professional environment. I’m confident we can get it done.”