COMMERCE CITY — When Brian Mullan went to see a knee specialist at the Steadman Clinic in Vail this past June, it seemed like a nice opportunity for a family getaway in the mountains. At least it did until the Rapids midfielder got the “horrible news” that he would never run again because his left knee was bone on bone, the cartilage shot.
Mullan’s sons, ages 9 and 6, were in the room along with his wife, Kersten, and it was there his 14-year MLS career would end — with a jolt. He needs a knee replacement.
“I might actually cry, talking about it,” said Kersten, who has been with Mullan since they were high school seniors in 1997, him at Regis Jesuit and her at Highlands Ranch. “To hear those words uttered and then to hear the doctor sort of make a decision for him, saying, ‘You really have a choice: Are you going to play this out or are you going to think long term about these two sitting here?’ If you know anything about Brian, he’s a dad first, he’s a husband first.
“Soccer is something he’s always been really good at, but not who he is.”
He sure was successful at soccer, though. He was a gritty, hardworking player never in it for personal accolades, but no player in league history has enjoyed more team glory. He is one of three players in league history with five MLS Cup titles, the others being Landon Donovan and Jeff Agoos.
“The big joke is, if you ask Brian where any of his MLS Cup rings are, he wouldn’t even be able to tell you,” Kersten said. “We have his jerseys framed from every MLS Cup. We have a game room in the basement, we hang those up. I tease him, ‘Here’s your walk of fame.’ He laughs (and says), ‘It almost feels like that walk of shame.’ He’s like, ‘This is not who I am.’ “
The Rapids haven’t formally announced his retirement or their plans to honor him when the time comes, but he isn’t hiding the news.
“Yes,” he says, “I’m retiring.”
Doing the dirty work
He , but he’s at practice virtually every day, serving as a mentor to the team’s youngest players. Occasionally he’ll kick balls in drills — with his right leg only — and he does grunt work like carrying ball bags to the locker room after practice. That’s fitting because he made a career out of doing the dirty work.
“He was one of those guys that just never quit, and was so mobile that you always had to be on your toes defending against him,” said Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni. “One of his greatest attributes is, he was a competitor, and slowly but surely we’re losing that kind of player to the more technical, flashy player. What made Brian such a great guy to have on your team, and the worst guy to play against, was his competitiveness. And he brought it every day.”
After graduating from Regis Jesuit, Mullan got a scholarship to play at Creighton. Kersten got a scholarship to play at North Carolina-Asheville, but she couldn’t stand the distance between them, so she joined him at Creighton. They married during their senior year (2001) because they knew he soon would be MLS-bound.
He began his pro career that year with the Los Angeles Galaxy and won his first Cup a year later. In 2003 he was traded to San Jose, where he won his second Cup, this one with Donovan and Agoos. In 2006, San Jose relocated to Houston and was renamed the Dynamo. Mullan won Cups with them that year and the following season.
On Sept. 15, 2010, Houston traded him to the Rapids. Two months later, .
“The Rapids were on fire when I came here,” said Mullan, modest and painfully shy as ever, as if he were just along for the ride. But Mastroeni, who played in the midfield with Mullan, saw him as a significant contributor to that Cup.
“The moment he came over, (practice) sessions became a bit chippier, the games were harder fought,” Mastroeni said. “He definitely brought a piece of his mind-set and energy and attitude over to us.”
Mentoring the younger players
He’s still at it, mentoring at practice every day, even if his bad knee hurts while he’s doing it. It hurts just standing on it.
“I’ve been doing this for 14 years now professionally, and I feel like I have a lot of knowledge that, if an older player would have helped me when I was younger, pointed some things out to me, that would have helped me along my career,” said Mullan, 36. “They’ve made it this far, so they’ve obviously got a good skill set and a good work ethic, but trying to get them to think about the little things. There’s a time and a place to be flashy, but that’s maybe a tenth of a percent of the game. It’s those in-between moments that make you a better player.”
Mullan hopes to be accepted for nursing school at Regis University in January and is taking his final prerequisite course now.
“It’s hard to think what your next career is going to be,” Mullan said. “You have to think through what you enjoy, what you want to do, and to me it came down to helping other people in some way.”
That’s pretty much how he approached soccer.
“He never went out looking for more than just putting on a jersey,” said Kersten. “The front of that shirt was always more important than the back of that shirt.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnmeyer
