VIRGINIA BEACH (WAVY) — A source confirmed with WAVY on Friday night that Ocean Lakes High School’s boys basketball coach Mario Mullen has died. Mullen had been the school’s coach for the past three seasons.
Prior to his time coaching, Mullen was an accomplished player at Bayside High School and the anchor to Marlins teams that won AAA state championships in 1990 and 1991 under head coach Ron Jenkins. He was named the AAA state player of the year in his 1991 senior season.
After one year at a prep school in Maine, Mullen chose to play basketball at Old Dominion. He played 108 career games for the Monarchs, averaging 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
He was most notably a member of the 1995 Monarchs team that beat Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Mullen was 50 years old.