This last season for the Naugatuck High School Boys Soccer Team was definitely something special; for the team, for the town, but also for the most important member of the program, Mr. Arthur Nunes, who almost single-handedly built the program from the ground up and helped make it such a successful team.

Mr. Arthur Nunes has won many titles over the years such as winning countless NVL titles, including winning the title three years in a row 2013, 2014 and 2015. He also won State Championship Titles back to back in only in his first few years of coaching and countless amount of other awards, and a very respectable four All-American and many All-State players. He has been able to finish his career of coaching with an outstanding record of 331 wins, 50 losses and 22 draws, averaging 15 wins per season in his 22 years of coaching.

However there are many concerns that have been left unsaid about Nunes’ retirement. Many things such as who will be able to take over the program that he has brought up, continue the legacy he started for the Naugatuck High School boys soccer team as well as the entire Naugatuck Valley League. But after all, he still says himself that not even he knew how to feel about the announcement he just made of his retirement.

He was not the only person who felt this way, at the banquet after the season where  he made the announcement. Naugatuck athletic director Thomas Pompei says that it was something that he saw coming. He said, “Coach Nunes had hinted it during off season, it was honestly just a waiting game for us’’ but Pompei also says that Nunes was a one of a kind coach and that he would be irreplaceable, but he is very confident that he will be able to find a coach that is just as good or possibly even better.

Nunes says that retirement was a very difficult decision for him to make. “It was something that needed to be done.” he says, and he will miss the program very much. ‘’It’s like a second family to me’,” he says, but he needed to make a sacrifice. ‘’I have a little niece down in Florida and another coming in April, and I want to be a part of their lives, watch them grow and play this beautiful game, but if I want to be able to do that I would have to give something up and I feel like it’s just my time. It’s been a great experience coaching and I’ve made countless great memories. I want to be more involved with my family even though we are a family here at the high school.’’