Paul Mullen could literally feel that it was time to retire.
It was as if his body was telling him to step down as Redmond High’s head wrestling coach after 22 years.
“Everything hurts. I’m pretty beat up,” the 60-year-old said with a laugh on Monday. “Too many years of having the heavyweights beating up on me.” Mullen’s honesty didn’t let up when he added that he felt bad for asking the Mustang assistants get down on the mat and display moves to the wrestlers.
Mullen and his wife, Sheryl, decided in September that this season would be his last and he struggled with the choice the whole way because he was having such a good time with his talented grapplers and assistants. After notching a 13-7 overall dual-meet record, Mullen informed his team on March 23 at the winter banquet that he would be leaving the program.
Mullen knows it will be tough to hand over the reins, but he’s ready to do so.
He’ll still work as an instructional assistant at Redmond High, but there will now be more time to go on trips with Sheryl and spend time with his daughter, Rachel, 22, who is moving back to the area from Hawaii to take a teaching job in the Clover Park School District in August.
Before coming to Redmond High, Mullen was an assistant at Sehome High, Clackamas Community College and Hazen High.
At Redmond, he compiled an overall dual-meet record of 167-155-1 and a 4A Kingco mark of 107-103-1. His 2006-07 squad was 4A academic state champions and the Mustangs also won the Kingco tournament that season. Redmond was the Kingco dual-meet co-champions with Woodinville and Lake Washington in 2007-08.
“Every coach will tell you that they want to win, but when we got there to accept the academic award it was just so cool,” Mullen said.
On the individual wrestler front under Mullen’s watch, Tom Heier won the 4A state title at 141 pounds in 1997, Joe Evans took second at state at 148 pounds in 1994 and Catherine Kelly took fourth at state in 2010 at 112 pounds and sixth at state in 2011 at 119 pounds.
“I do it for the kids,” Mullen said. “Sheryl said we’ve met so many good kids. They stay in touch with her and they stay in touch with me.”
Mullen grabbed onto wrestling as a seventh-grader at Buckeye Elementary School in Shingle Springs, Calif. in the late 1960s and continued on for four years at Ponderosa High School and then grappled for one year on the JV squad at Oregon State University. He also played football and rugby and chucked the shot put and discus during his school years.
It was on the wrestling mat where he felt at home the most. Although he enjoyed the team camaraderie of football and rugby, he thrived on the individuality of wrestling, as well.
“I loved it. It’s up to you how you do. There ain’t nobody out there to help me and no one to blame,” he said with a smile. “And it’s physical and you get a lot of aggression out.”
Legendary Oregon State University wrestling coach Dale Thomas passed on plenty of words of wisdom that Mullen shared with his wrestlers, such as: “Never give up. It’s never over. You could be down big… but the pin is the ultimate equalizer.”
While reminiscing about his Redmond years, Mullen’s thoughts focus on former Mustangs he coached, David Schlosser and Rob Rones, both who passed away in recent years. Both guys were solid wrestlers and people and Mullen uses them as an example of what it takes to be a successful wrestler: “You have to have the drive, determination, work ethic and a sense of humor.”
The Redmond High Memorial Tournament and alumni match are named after Schlosser and Rones, respectively.
