Former Nittany Lion Heads to Great Lakes State

Joseph Nemzer said soccer has always been a part of his life. It’s a passion of his … and that passion led him across the country.

Nemzer, like many people, started playing soccer at a very young age. He was 4 years old when he joined his first team, and he's still involved involved in the game.

After playing with the Council Rock United Soccer Association, and at Council Rock South High School, Nemzer took his skills to Penn State Abington, where he was his team’s starting goalkeeper. After graduating in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he became an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s soccer teams at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. From there, he left to take a coaching job at the University of Kansas. And last week, he landed a job as the assistant women’s soccer coach at Central Michigan University.

“After I graduated, I knew I wanted to stay involved in soccer somehow,” Nemzer said. “I got a job in Alabama, and I’ve just kind of been moving around. It’s exciting for sure.”

Nemzer said his time at Penn State Abington really solidified his love for the game. His coach, David Castellanos, was a professional soccer player, having played for the Philadelphia Kixx. And Nemzer was part of the school’s transition to the North Eastern Athletic Conference.

“It was great for me, playing for David Castellanos,” he said. “For me, or any of the guys to play under him ... that’s a pretty big deal. It was a good experience getting coaching at that level.”

Nemzer also played baseball at Penn State Abington, and said that he was totally immersed in the school’s athletics. And now, even though he lives in Michigan, he said whenever he comes home to visit friends and family, he makes it a point to stop by his old college; he said he feels like he’s an ambassador to the school’s athletic program.   

"I still talk to coach Castellanos regularly, and he gives me advice and things like that,” Nemzer said. “Now that I’m close to an actual airport [at CMU], usually when I go back home I make an effort to swing by Penn State. I talk to the trainers and see how the school has grown since I’ve left. I like to keep tabs of what’s going on at the school, and when people ask me where I went to school, I don’t say ‘Penn State,’ I say, ‘Penn State Abington.’”