Mullen leaves Timberline to take over as Olympia football coach
Mullen Road runs from south Lacey past Timberline High School and east into unincorporated Thurston County.
For 13 years, including 11 generally successful football seasons, Nick Mullen and Timberline fit so well together a newcomer to the area might assume the road giving the school its address was named for the Blazers’ football coach.
It wasn’t.
And now another set of streets, those leading from his family’s home a mile from Olympia High School to the campus, seem like a perfect fit to Mullen, who was named the Bears’ new football coach Tuesday.
“In the 13 years I’ve been at Timberline, I never applied for another job. I had colleges asking me to apply, but the only job I wanted was this one,” he told a packed lecture hall of Olympia players and their parents.
An Olympia native, Mullen graduated from Bethel High School in Spanaway, which plays in the Class 4A South Puget Sound League, along with the Bears. His brother Pat is the boys basketball coach at 4A SPSL member Emerald Ridge.
“I played in the SPSL, I coached in it (as an assistant to Eric Kurle at Bethel). I think it’s the best 4A league in the state hands down,” he said, adding a confident note:
“This is a hibernating Bear. We’ve got to get the program juiced. The kids want to win.”
His two children attend schools that feed into Olympia.
Mullen leaves Timberline with a 79-40 overall record in two stints as head coach, sandwiched around a two year span, 2015 and 2016, when he served solely as Timberline’s athletic director. He guided the Blazers to the state 3A quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018, earned West Central District Coach of the Year honors in ’18.
Prior to getting the head coaching position at Timberline at just age 30 in 2007, Mullen was an all-Northwest Conference defensive player at the University of Puget Sound, then served as an assistant at not only Bethel, but Central Washington University, Mt. Tahoma and Franklin Pierce.
The job opened when Olympia cut ties with three-year head coach and longtime assistant Steve Davis after he recorded a 13-17 overall record, including 4-6 in 2019.
Six candidates interviewed before Mullen was selected.
“Nick won the day on paper, on experience. The interview was fantastic,” Olympia athletic director Bob Kickner said. “He bleeds blue right now. I know he bled Timberline green for a long time, but he’s a Bear through and through now.
“He’s been wanting this job and that came through sincerely, humbly. He’s very passionate about football. He’s going to be a great spark for our football program.”
Timberline missed the playoffs in 2019 with a 5-5 record, but rallied from a 1-4 start to win four of its last five and finish in a tie with Capital and Central Kitsap for the 3A South Sound Conference’s final district playoff berth, losing out on a point differential tie-breaker. The Blazers’ losses included a 24-21 defeat to league champion Peninsula and a 35-30 defeat to state participant Yelm.
Mullen will bring Orlando Johnson, the Olympian’s All-Area defensive coordinator of the year in 2018, with him from Timberline’s staff. The remainder of the new Bears’ staff will be put together by Mullen with input from Kickner.
Johnson and Mullen are both defensive wizards. Timberline has run the pistol offense most of Mullen’s tenure. Bears players will be challenged.
“It’s going to be a whole new offensive scheme, a whole new defensive scheme. The kids are going to be shocked how fast we’re going to go. But they’re going to have a blast, they’re going to enjoy it,” he said.
The possibility of a teaching job for Mullen at Olympia has not been finalized. He teaches English in the mornings at Timberline before his athletic director duties begin after lunch. He will remain the Blazers’ A.D. through the remainder of the school year.
In that role, he’s joining with Timberline vice-principal Greg Goble to drive the search for his successor as football coach. Mullen thinks the Blazers will ultimately be led by a quality coach.
“We’ve created a program that everyone should want. We’ve won there, you can continue to win there,” he said. “It’s a destination program.”
Mullen says he’ll miss the atmosphere he found at Timberline.
“It’s a unique environment. It’s really special. Once you get into it it’s crazy, the families love you and care about you and want to make sure you’re doing OK.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 3:41 PM.