Their paths, on the soccer pitch anyway, first intersected in the mid-1980s.
Jon Beardsley was a freshman player around the same time that Jamie Mullen first took the reins of the Fillmore JV program. And though the former only played “one or two games” for Mullen before being called up to varsity out of necessity, he made an impression on the man he’d also soon call his brother-in-law.
“I didn’t get a long time to coach him,” Mullen noted, “but obviously I was always interested in him. He was just enough younger (by eight years, with both calling Fillmore home) that he kind of tagged along behind us all the time. He was just a great kid and we just loved having him around.”
And so began an almost parallel trajectory, from both a personal and professional standpoint, that has been based in soccer.
IN THE nearly three combined decades since rising to head varsity coaching roles — Mullen inherited the boys job in 1991, Beardsley the girls gig in ‘95 — each has enjoyed similar, and unrivaled, success, boasting winning percentages of .765 and .731 (and that’s with ties counting as non-wins) while claiming six and four sectional championships, respectively. And those glittering careers happened to have led them here, to a shared summit in the same season.
In 2021, both coaches led their teams to the New York State Class D Final Four, Mullen for the sixth time. Mullen surpassed Rich Sullivan as the winningest boys coach in Allegany County history while Beardsley moved to within 11 triumphs of Judy Bliven’s mark on the girls’ side. And for that, each was named the Big 30 Coach of the Year for his gender, with Mullen earning the Doug Burke Award and Beardsley, perhaps fittingly, the Bliven Award.
It was the third such honor for both coaches — and second in a row for Beardsley — and it came in the same offseason that Mullen officially announced his retirement after 31 years on the Eagles’ sideline.
In a way, they noted, each has the other to thank.
“I think we’ve modeled our success off one another,” Mullen said. “There’s never been that resentment or any kind of jealousy between the two of us, but I do think there’s sort of that natural sense that you don’t want to be overshadowed in your own backyard.
“I think it’s pushed both of us to be our absolute best and it’s pushed both programs to be the best. But I would say 98 percent of it has just been really positive. You set a standard of excellence and everybody kind of wants to strive for it, and I think that’s what Fillmore soccer has been about.”
THIS YEAR, as usual, there were plenty deserving of the Coach of the Year honor.
On the girls’ side, Jesse Archer (Portville) and Tammy Eddy (Ellicottville) had another typically strong season. Aaron Wight, especially, staked his claim, leading Cuba-Rushford to a 10-win campaign in its first joint year with Hinsdale, its best in recent memory. For the boys, Jon Luce (Allegany-Limestone) and J.J. McIntosh each turned in unbeaten regular seasons.
It was impossible to ignore, however, what both Mullen and Beardsley accomplished while also teaching down the hall from one another.
Mullen reached a state championship game for the second time (and first since 2000) while Beardsley’s Eagles, in their first NYS Final Four trip under the current format, came up just a goal short of doing the same, falling in the semis to Mount Academy, 2-1. The latter also completed a third-straight unbeaten regular season (16-0), pushing that win streak to an impressive 51-straight games dating to the middle of 2018.
“Fifty-one games without a loss,” an incredulous Mullen said. “That’s unheard of, and he keeps adding bigger schools to his schedule. At this point, I can’t even hold a candle to what he’s doing. I was just trying to hang on for dear life.”
Mullen, in that vein, sought to deflect the light shone on those accomplishments to his colleague. After all, he noted, he’d already been the subject of a handful of stories upon setting the county wins record, and his team’s 19-3-2 mark and second trip to the NYS Final Four in three years speaks for itself. “The only mercy in all of this is nobody’s gonna have to hear about me for the next 50 years,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve certainly had my share of press; I don’t need anymore.”
For him, this story is about Beardsley, who reached the promised land of a NYS Final Four for the first time in 27 years, all while assuming the “thankless” duties of a small-school athletic director, which included the logistics of deep playoff runs for three fall programs (including volleyball) and its adoring community.
But for Beardsley, it was Mullen who first showed the way.
“I’d like to say we’ve gone stride for stride with each other,” said Beardsley, the first back-to-back COY winner since Pioneer’s Frank Asquith in 2013-’14. “I think we’ve definitely made each other better in a lot of ways.
“If there’s anyone I could desire to emulate and be the teacher I desire to be, it’s Jamie. That’s one thing he’s amazing at, is connecting with kids and getting the very best out of them and understanding them. That’s one thing I learned very early on from him, is that if you can connect with a kid, they can impact your team, but hopefully you impact them outside of the game. I saw that very early on and I saw kids connect to him; that’s what I wanted to emulate.”
MULLEN, for the first time in his coaching career, allowed himself to consider the possibility.
After clicking the light off in his hotel room following the Eagles’ thrilling, if unlikely, seven-round penalty kick win over Chazy in the NYS semis, he contemplated “for about 15 seconds” actually being able to pull off a state title. People who’d seen their opponent, Mount Academy, told him: You guys can hang with them.
And though they fell short, 3-1, leaving Mullen just shy of a picture-perfect end to his coaching career, he was able to view this season, and the 30 that came before it, for what they were.
“I suppose that’s always gonna be that little sort of rub,” Mullen, who’s married to Beardsley’s older sister, said of his two title game losses. “But holy cow, you spend your whole life dreaming of winning a sectional title and going past that, and to do it six times like we did, it just feels unbelievably lucky.
The best part of it was I had great kids. If they had been jerks, I almost wouldn’t have wanted them to be successful, but they were kids that really bought into what we were selling.”
Beardsley, meanwhile, allowed himself to chase.
He was there the last time a Fillmore girls team played in a state-level game, in 1984, as a wide-eyed 13-year-old. And from there, and when he first suited up for Mullen two years later, he knew this was something of which he wanted to be a part.
And he has been, as a player, teacher and now regional-winning coach.
“From my standpoint, growing up and living in Fillmore, that’s what I’ve dedicated my work life to, and I know the history quite well,” he said. “In 1995, I wanted to find a way to just continue the tremendous success we’ve had at Fillmore. It means a ton to accomplish what we did. It means a lot because Fillmore means a lot, the kids mean a lot. The girls soccer program is just something pretty special to me.”
MULLEN AND Beardsley have spent countless hours talking soccer and students.
They’ve gone through “highs and lows together.”
And though, in some ways, Mullen’s story ends here — with a shimmering record of 465-98-43 and 24 county titles in 31 years — his influence will be felt for years to come, Beardsley said.
“It’ll be different not having him on the sideline,” Beardsley acknowledged. “He epitomizes Fillmore soccer. I can’t even think of Fillmore soccer without him. But I think his impact, just because he’s not gonna be there, that’s gonna last for a long, long time.”
Mullen, having delegated a bit more in recent years, described this as more of a staff honor than an individual award, citing longtime assistant Mike Witkowski, son Jordan and heir apparent and former player Jarrett Vosburg.
And now, he’ll turn in his whistle. With no regrets.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “My goodness, I got everything out of what my coaching life was that I could possibly have. The best part of this is that I have generations of kids that have called and congratulated me. I just take a great deal of pleasure watching them go out and live good lives.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
