Jeff Mullen (born September 15, 1968) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He is the former quarterback coach of the

Charlotte 49ers The Charlotte 49ers are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the Nati ...

. Mullen was previously an assistant coach at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

, and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

Early life

Mullen attended

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, where he was a four-year letterwinner and a 1989

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

selection at

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. Mullen received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in sociology from Wittenberg in 1990 and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in athletic administration from

in 1993. Mullen began his coaching career at Hamilton Township High School in Ohio in 1990 where he coached under Mark Hundley. He then served as a defensive graduate assistant for the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1991.

Coaching career

Ohio University

After leaving Hawaii, Mullen moved to

in 1992 as an offensive graduate assistant. He spent two seasons as a graduate assistant, then moved to video coordinator and administrative assistant in 1994. In December of the same year, Mullen became the fullbacks coach under new head coach

Jim Grobe Jim Britt Grobe (born February 17, 1952) is an American college football coach and former player who was most recently the defensive coordinator of the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football. His previous position to that was ...

's arrival. In 1996, Mullen moved to tight ends and offensive tackles under Grobe.

Wake Forest

Following his nine seasons at Ohio, Mullen followed head coach

to Wake Forest with most of the staff from Ohio. In 2001 and 2002, Mullen coached tackles Tim Bennett and Mark Moroz. Moroz earned honorable mention for the All- ACC team. He also coached tight end Ray Thomas and fullback

Ovie Mughelli Ovie Phillip Mughelli (born June 10, 1980) is a former American football fullback (American football), fullback who played for the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for Wa ...

, both whom played professional football. Mughelli was a fourth round

NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

selection after rushing for 12 touchdowns, the most in 30 years in school history. In 2003, Mullen moved to coach the

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

s under Grobe. Mullen coached some of the greatest quarterbacks in school history, including Cory Randolph, Ben Mauk, and

Riley Skinner Riley Skinner (born October 21, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and was signed by the New York Gi ...

. Randolph finished as the 10th leading passer in school history, and the third most accurate. Mauk started six games and led the Deacons in passing yards in 2005, before being injured and transferring to the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

during the 2006 season. Skinner took over for Mauk in 2006, and led the team in passing in 2007 with 2,204 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also set the ACC single-season completion percentage record in 2007.

West Virginia

On February 19, 2008, Mullen was announced the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under new head coach Bill Stewart at

. During his time at West Virginia he coached Pat White in 2008. A second-round NFL draft pick, White, who was a senior, led WVU to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, becoming the first starting quarterback in NCAA history to win four bowl games. Mullen also recruited and coached Geno Smith at WVU. In 2010, with Smith at QB, Mullen helped West Virginia to the Co-Big East Championship with an offense that ranked #2 in total offense, #4 in rushing offense and #2 in passing offense in the conference. Smith was the 39th overall pick, going in the second round of the

2013 NFL draft The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

Charlotte

On March 1, 2011, Mullen was announced as the new offensive coordinator for the Charlotte 49ers, who began play in 2013. In their first two playing seasons, the 49ers averaged 468 yards of total offense and produced the 49ers first 1,000 yard rusher (Kalif Phillips, 1,441 yards) and receiver (Austin Duke, 1,373 yards) as well as a 2013 Jerry Rice Award Finalist for the FCS Top First-Year Player Award (QB Matt Johnson). In their first season, the 49ers uptempo attack ranked in the nation's top 30 in total offense (448.5 yds; 20th), rushing offense (206.8 yds; 26th) and scoring offense (33.4 pts; 27th). Charlotte put up over 500 yards of offense five times. Four of those 500+ games came against FCS scholarship programs, including 501 at #3/#6 ranked Coastal Carolina. The 49ers put up at least 45 points and 450 yards in each of their five wins, scored over 50 points three times and put up 500 or more yards five times. The offense ran 75.2 plays per game with a high of 106 vs. N.C. Central. The 49ers had 18 touchdown drives that took under 1:30 and six one-play touchdown drives. In year two, the 49ers averaged 487.4 yards of total offense, with 222 yards rushing and 265 yards passing on their way to 38.9 points per game. The 49ers had 22 TD drives of 1:30 or less and seven one-play touchdown drives. Nineteen TD's were on plays of 50 or more yards. Charlotte has established records of 61 points; 439 rushing yards; 381 passing yards and 684 yards of total offense.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Jeff 1960s births Living people American football defensive backs Charlotte 49ers football coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Ohio Bobcats football coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches Wittenberg Tigers football players High school football coaches in Ohio Players of American football from Lima, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people)