Carlos Mendes

Mendes grew up in Mineola, New York and attended The Wheatley School. He was voted a high school All-American his senior year. In addition to being an All-State and All-Region honoree, he was voted twice All-County (Nassau). As a student athlete at Old Dominion University Mendes was a three-time First Team All Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) selection in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Mendes was the 1998 CAA Rookie of the Year, and a two-time NSCAA United Soccer Coaches Association All-Region selection.

Long Island Rough Riders

Mendes started his career with the Long Island Rough Riders of the United Soccer League (USL) in 2002. While playing for them in 2002 he became a defender, winning the D3 Pro League title while scoring the equalizer in the Championship Game against the Wilmington Hammerheads in North Carolina.

Rochester Raging Rhinos

Mendes moved up a division to play for Rochester Raging Rhinos of the A-League, where he became a consistent starter for the next two seasons.

New York Red Bulls

Mendes signed with the MetroStars of Major League Soccer (MLS) before the start of the 2005 season, and became the starter in central defense, filling the position formerly held by Eddie Pope. During the 2006 MLS campaign Mendes started every game on the season but one, which was due to caution point accumulation. For his efforts, he was voted team Defender of the Year by members of the soccer media. Mendes continued his solid play anchoring the clubs backline during the early part of the 2007 season with the New York Red Bulls. However, he fell out of favor with coach Bruce Arena and was in and out of the lineup during the latter part of the season. He concluded the campaign appearing in 23 matches (19 starts), his lowest totals since joining the club. For the 2008 season Mendes was converted into a defensive midfielder and appeared in 17 regular season matches. He returned to central defense in the MLS playoffs starting in the club's 1–0 victory…

Following his playing days, Mendes went into coaching as an assistant with the LIU Post Pioneers. In 2018, he re-joined the Cosmos as head coach of the Cosmos B team in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). In 2020, he moved up to became head coach of the first team. The Cosmos went on hiatus in January 2021. Mendes spent one season an assistant coach for the Queens Knights before joining the staff of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy as the head coach of the Mariners' women's soccer program in November 2021.

As of December 6, 2019