Head Coach

Kate Mullen

Kate Mullen enters her 32nd year at the helm of the women’s basketball program in 2023-24, while also serving as an adjunct professor of physical education and senior woman administrator at Wesleyan. Mullen guided the team to nine consecutive winning seasons from 2000-2009 with a 153-69 (.689) record during that span. The Cardinals have appeared in 16 of the last 21 NESCAC Tournaments and made two trips to the NCAA Championships during that stretch.

In 2017-18, Mullen’s squad recorded a 17-8 overall record and a 5-5 mark in the NESCAC. The Cardinals earned the No. 5 seed in the NESCAC Championships and defeated No. 4 Middlebury on the road, 63-62, to advance to the semifinals. Maddie Bledsoe ’18 was named a Second Team All-NESCAC recipient after a breakout senior campaign.

Mullen was voted the NESCAC Coach of the Year by her peers during the 2002-03 season, in which the Cardinals posted a 21-4 record - a team-best winning percentage (.840) - en route to the No. 2 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. Two years later, in 2004-05, Mullen led Wesleyan to a 22-5 record - the winningest team in program history - while securing an NCAA bid and advancing to the Sweet 16. The Cardinals returned to the national postseason tournament the following year and finished the 2005-06 campaign with an 18-8 overall mark.

Mullen was the head coach at Elms College for seven seasons prior to her arrival at Wesleyan, while also serving as associate director of athletics. Prior to her time with the Blazers, she was the head coach at Westfield State College from 1981-85, while teaching in the Enfield, Conn., school system. From her 35 seasons in the college coaching ranks, Mullen enters 2017-18 with 418 victories to rank among the top-40 active Division III coaches and third in the NESCAC. In April 2011, Mullen was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as one of seven inductees and was the only individual inducted as a college coach.

Mullen is a veteran of numerous summer basketball camps as a coach and lecturer. She is co-owner and director of the Fundamental Basketball Camp held at Wesleyan University. A graduate of Central Connecticut State University, where she was an outstanding three-sport athlete (field hockey, basketball, softball), Mullen was inducted into her alma mater's Athletics Hall of Fame in April 2010. She earned her master's degree in physical education from Springfield College. As an associate director of athletics at Wesleyan, Mullen also teaches physical education activity classes and was appointed the department's Senior Woman Administrator.