To meet Jessie Mull is to like her.
To know her is to respect her.
To trust her to oversee an athletic department is to do the right thing.
At least it is for Nottingham High School Principal Frank Ragazzo.
Ragazzo has named the former Northstar athlete and coach, who began her freshman year at NHS in 1999, as Jon “Big Dawg” Adams’ successor as the Northstars new athletic director.
“This truly is a dream come true,” Mull said. “I didn’t think it would happen this quickly but the timing worked out. This means the world. I graduated here, came back after playing college ball, started coaching here, so my passion has always been Nottingham.”
Ragazzo will quickly support that statement.
“She bleeds blue and gold,” the principal said. “It’s obvious this is where she wants to be. Throughout all of her interviews, everything she brought in to give us was blue and gold. That’s her personality. She has a vested interest in this school. She lived here. She loves this community and she definitely loves athletics.”
Mull was a standout softball and field hockey performer for the Northstars, and her senior year was an omen of things to come.
“I was in the VIP program, and in ninth period I was (former AD) Pete Leonard’s assistant, so I’d help in the AD’s office that period,” she recalled. “I didn’t know it was a pre-warning that I’d be getting the job.”
Mull’s foray onto the athletic field took a while. While attending Kuser Elementary School, she would play with her brother in the neighborhood pick-up games on Connecticut Avenue, but spent five nights a week dancing. In middle school, the Reynolds 6th-grader was attending a fall baseball game and her brother’s team was short a man.
“The coach said ‘We’re gonna put you in!’” Mull said. “I ended up being phenomenal and the coach said, ‘You gotta put this kid in softball.’”
Jessie always played up in age once she started, and was a 13-year-old on the Hamilton Little Lads 13-to-15-year-old World Series team. Linda Hamilton, who has a lengthy coaching resume in the area, told Nottingham coaches Dee Taylor and Peggy Howell about Mull’s athleticism, and Taylor got her to join Alyson Setzer’s PAL field hockey program in 8th grade.
Taylor wasted little time snatching Jessie up for field hockey at Nottingham, and Howell did likewise in softball. Her freshman year in softball, second baseman Mull was paired with standout shortstop Kate Garland.
That could mean some pressure as Garland is an NHS Hall of Famer who’s now an assistant for Salisbury State, which just finished second in the NCAA Division III national tournament. But Jessie was good enough to handle it.
During her four years, Mull was a two-sport All-Conference performer. And prior to graduating she got her first inkling of what it’s like to be an AD by working with Leonard.
“That was fun,” Mull said. “Pete was on the ball, he had everything to a tee. I learned a lot of organizational skills from him. I got to see how he approached other coaches and his rapport with the students. It was nice.”
It also planted a seed.
“That was the very beginning of my administrative career,” Mull said. “But I could see myself eventually — since athletics was such a huge part of my life — getting involved and truly holding kids accountable in sports. I thought, ‘This is the way to go.’”
But first, north Jersey was the trail to travel. After graduation in 2003, Mull took her sharp mind and slick athletic skills to William Paterson, where she was a softball and field hockey standout and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
“That became my life,” she said. “In college it was academics and sports. Field hockey ended and I was training for softball. I think playing multiple sports helps me with time management, organization and life skills.”
After graduation Jessie got a teaching job at Yardville Heights in 2007 and served as field hockey goalkeeper coach at Robbinsville High. After one year she was assisting Taylor with the Northstars, and in 2013 she took a special education teaching job at Nottingham to make her coaching situation easier. Along the way Mull earned a Master of Arts with Distinction in Special Education from Rider University and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from American College of Education.”
After serving as an assistant for Taylor and Jen Cicale, Mull became head field hockey coach in 2019. When Adams announced he was stepping down, the 38-year-old knew she was ready.
So did Ragazzo.
“I felt she was one of the best coaches and best teachers we’ve had in the building,” Ragazzo said. “When you put those two things together, and what she already brought to Nottingham, it just made sense.
“I’m very excited to see what she’s going to do with the athletic program. We see a good coach; someone who can work with the kids; is great with the parents; can motivate. She could probably do that with any of the programs, and as AD I think she will.”
Mull’s official starting date was July 1, and Adams has helped her transition over the past few months. It is ironic in a way, that someone who “bleeds blue and gold” is replacing what Ragazzo calls “The face of Nottingham athletics even before he became athletic director.”
“Jon was a tremendous part of the Nottingham athletic community,” the principal said. “We’re obviously gonna be sad to see him go. I can’t say enough about Jon Adams. Him leaving is a loss, but Jess can fill those shoes.”
And her predecessor agrees.
“When I told Jon about the choice of Jessie, he felt the same as me, he couldn’t have picked a better successor if he had done it himself,” Ragazzo said. “To have the endorsement of someone who has been around the department for 33 years is huge.”
Mull has tapped into the minds of Taylor and Adams — who both left coaching to become Nottingham ADs – as to how to do the job.
“I learned a lot from Dee, because she was my field hockey coach, I saw her in that atmosphere,” Mull said. “She was always on the ball. You knew when she was upset and you knew when you had crossed the line, but she was always approachable. She always solved the problem. She was very organized. She’s been a solid mentor in my life since I first started.
“Jon’s approach is different from Dee’s. I’ve learned different skills from him. His rapport with coaches is more hands-on, so I got to see that type of atmosphere.”
She also credits fifth-year athletic secretary Mary Brower for helping with various nuances of the job, and will be interrogating numerous other ADs. They include Bordentown’s Jen Cicale, who she coached under in field field hockey, several Shore Conference connections, and former Hightstown AD Gary Bushelli, the father of one of her good friends.
One of the biggest — and most necessary — assets Mull brings to the job is patience. Having a special-ed background should be a plus.
“It helps me be adaptable, flexible and patient,” she said. “Everyday I come in not knowing what is expected. I pretty much anticipate that happening with this job. Being proactive, thinking of things prior to, can help ease the fire. It helps that I like to be very involved and busy. I think special-ed has allowed that. I teach multiple subjects and so many levels, and here I have to network with so many people.”
She is now dealing with athletes, parents, coaches and administrators, which takes a lot of deftness.
“Luckily for me, I have good rapport with all of the coaches. I’m gonna use that to my advantage. I’m hoping they see the effort I put into this job, and because if I’m putting in the effort, they’re gonna work that much harder,” she said.
Mull feels that her job is not just hiring coaches to produce winning teams. She vows to stay on top of the student-athletes’ academics and eligibility, and wants to work as a team with the guidance office.
“I am a huge piece because I can hold them accountable through sports so (guidance) should use me,” Mull said. “I’m very visible now in the hallways, a lot of the students know me so I still expect that to happen. I would like them to feel comfortable enough to be able to come to me.
“When I was a student here, as an athlete you were a role model in the building. That’s what I want to bring back. I want them to be accepted, I want them to be known, I want it to be a successful environment for them.”
It is no secret that many of the girls programs at Nottingham have not done well in recent years. Mull hopes to rectify that by partnering with the middle schools and have them promote athletics in order to get more developed and experienced athletes into Nottingham.
Mull first got the urge to become an AD around three years ago when she started working closely with Ragazzo’s administrative team. She insisted this is not a quick fix interest in which she stays for two years then looks to become a vice principal.
“This is long term,” she said. “I want to be an AD. I want to make sure it’s in the direction I want it to be in. I want them to feel the same thing I felt here as a student athlete. I want the same type of environment and culture. Depending on how long that takes is how long I’ll be here.”
Ragazzo is hoping it is for quite a while, as he empties his “superlative cabinet” when discussing his new hire.
“She is very smart, motivated, passionate and she has that easy-going way that’s needed for this position,” he said. “I think she’s going to be great. I’m very confident in her. I’m really happy she’s with us.”
She’s been with them all along. Now it’s just at a higher level.
Nottingham High School athletic director Jessie Mull. (Photo by Rich Fisher.),
