Published: January 21, 2008 11:40 pm         

Mullen expected to join West Virginia staff

MORGANTOWN — Jeff Mullen is expected to join head coach Bill Stewart’s new staff at West Virginia as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

He has been at Wake Forest for seven years, the last five as coach of the quarterbacks. The Demon Deacons compiled a 46-39 record over that span, including a 9-4 mark in 2007 and a victory over Connecticut in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Mullen was in Morgantown this past weekend and offered the position, according to an informed source. An official announcement is expected after paperwork is completed.

His appointment will leave just one more spot for Stewart to fill. That will be a receivers coach.

A native of Lima, Ohio, Mullen has a variety of experience in college coaching. Besides quarterbacks, he has tutored wide receivers, the offensive line and the defensive secondary.

He is credited with developing highly successful signal callers for Wake Forest, including Cory Randolph, who finished as the school’s third most accurate passer in its football history. Randolph completed almost 58 percent of his 570 career passes. His 330 completions went for 3,883 yards.

Randolph, who broke the Wake Forest single-season record for completion percentage, also rushed for 741 career yards.

Mullen also guided the development of Ben Mauk, who transferred from Wake Forest to Cincinnati.

Four of the longest passing plays in Wake Forest’s history came from Mullen’s pupils.

During his first two years with the Deacons, he worked with the exterior line which was one of the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Mullen was an assistant coach at Ohio University for nine years before following head coach Jim Grobe to Winston Salem, N.C., in December 2000. He had joined Grobe’s Bobcat staff as fullbacks coach in December 1994.

He later coached the tight ends and offensive tackles at Ohio U. It was there that he started coaching in 1992 as a graduate assistant. Two years later he served as the program’s video coordinator and administrative assistant.

Mullen became a full-time assistant coach upon Grobe’s arrival there in December 1994.

He had gone to Ohio after being a graduate assistant for the University of Hawaii in 1991. He began his coaching career in 1990 at Hamilton Township (Ohio) High School.

Mullen is a 1990 graduate of Whittenberg (Ohio) University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. As a defensive back there, he was a three-year starter and made All-America in 1989.

He also earned a master’s degree from Ohio University in 1993.

Mullen and his wife Andrea have three children: Nate, Rami and Maggie.