Brian Mullins, sporting icon, is used to the limelight. But for someone who has been famous for 20 years and more he remains uncomfortable and suspicious about the media. He has reason to be. This week he is getting ready to fill the considerable vacancy left at UCD by the late Dr Tony O'Neill. UCD's director of sport is a great job and Mullins had done well to get it. But he is dogged by controversy from his last job, as principal of Carndonagh Community School, in Co Donegal.
In spite of the favourable outcome of a Department of Education inquiry, teachers from Carndonagh have kept up the pressure, and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has tabled searching questions in the Dail.
Mullins agrees that Dr Tony O'Neill, whom he succeeds, is a hard act to follow. O'Neill, who died at the age of 53 last October, was regarded as the most outstanding sports administrator of his generation. His death is seen as a huge loss to UCD.
He was largely responsible for the introduction of the college's sports scholarship scheme, which has revitalised sport there, and brought in many of the country's top young sportpeople. His emollient personality played a vital role in the promotion of sports at UCD.
Mullins, on the other hand, would not be everybody's idea of a diplomat - on the pitch or off it.
Nonetheless, he now faces the delicate task of dealing with a range of sporting constituencies at Belfield, and keeping UCD's 50-plus highly competitive clubs and associations in line.
"My big challenge will be to take O'Neill's vision and develop it to a stage he would have wanted," he says. The fact that Mullins is a Gaelic footballer, at a college best known for its soccer team, should raise no eyebrows, he says. A PE teacher by training, with a master's degree in administration - including an emphasis on sports management - Mullins says he's suited to the job. Although soccer, rugby and Gaelic games are UCD's major sports, less widely played sports are also significant. "You can't see any one of them as being more important than any of the smaller areas," he says.
Mullins grew up in Dublin's Clontarf suburb, the son of a senior civil servant. He was educated at Colaiste Mhuire, Parnell Square, Dublin. He regards himself as a competent, rather than fluent, Irish speaker. Still, he has been reported as saying that if he were Ireland's dictator, everyone would speak Irish. Mullins achievements on the football pitch are prodigious. He played football for the St Vincent's club in Marino and, of course, for Dublin. He won all-Ireland medals on four occasions - 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1983 - and All-Star awards in 1976 and 1977. He is regarded as one of the game's greatest midfielders. He suffered critical leg injuries in car crash in June 1980 and for a time it was believed he would never play again - but he bounced back.
"He's a man of great resilience and willpower," says a sports commentator who has followed his career closely. "And he made an amazing comeback."
His style on the pitch was not especially eye-catching. "He was marvellous player but not a stylish one," says a long-time watcher. In 1983, Mullins was suspended for two months for striking a Galway player and for three months for an incursion on to the field after being sent off. The GAA held an investigation into claims that Mullins had hit a player in the tunnel at half-time, but reached no conclusion because of conflicting evidence.
For a short time after his playing career ended, Mullins was one of a team of three who trained and managed the Dublin team. Later, he managed Derry's county footballers. After graduating from Thomond College, Limerick, Mullins taught PE in Greendale Community School, Dublin. He took the job as principal of Carndonagh Community School, Co Donegal, in 1991. He is married with four children aged between nine and 21 years. Although Mullins is said to have close links with leading members of Fianna Fail, he is on record as denying that he has ever been a member of the party.
Newspaper reports of Mullins in his footballing glory days, give the impression of a taciturn, difficult individual. Traditionally uncommunicative with the media, he was tough, assertive and abrasive.
Nobody's fool, he would argue his point with some vigour on the field. Talk to his staff in Carndonagh and some of them will tell you that he brings some of the qualities he displayed on the football pitch to his job at the school. Others, however, are lavish in their praise. They say Mullins is caring, approachable and very supportive of people with personal difficulties. "His vision is excellent," one teacher comments. "He has a great ability to bring staff along with him and give teachers a sense of selfworth."
He has performed wonders in the school, supporters say, and has removed the sense of isolation which pertained in the school - located in Ireland's remote far north, at the Inishowen peninsula - before his arrival. "I have worked closely with Brain Mullins for years," says Paul Fiorentini, an ASTI teacher representative in the school. "He has always put the pupils first. He has a human side that is not always appreciated. He is a hard worker and is very energetic in the interests of the school."
The fact remains, however, that Carndonagh's is a staffroom divided - between those who are Mullins' supporters and those who are not. Both sides talk of harassment, of victimisation and of rumour, innuendo and counter-rumour. A Department official, visiting the school, noted that Mullins could be "direct of manner" and "may sometimes find it difficult to deal with a teacher who is perceived by him to challenge his authority or to challenge his approach to school management".
In some quarters, at least, the Department of Education is seen as deserving of blame for allowing the situation to get out of hand. Now, Mullins has secured a new challenge at UCD, and along with it a way out of the Carndonagh situation.
Although his qualifications for his new job are clear, many people were nonetheless surprised when they learned of Mullins being appointed. Some wondered: Where was the job advertised? Unusually, it was advertised only on UCD's sports website, going up on January 28th.
The college says it received a good response and a number of people were interviewed. Mullins heard about the job from an acquaintance with UCD links. Further confusion was caused by earlier press reports that former Tipperary hurler Nicky English was to be appointed to the UCD job, with financial support from AIB Bank, which has the banking concession at Belfield.
AIB will neither confirm or deny the report, English is keeping quiet and UCD declines to comment. The fact that Mullins has told his staff that he is taking a career break to do the UCD job has also caused comment in Carndonagh.
UCD has confirmed, however, that the position of director of sports is a permanent one, is funded by UCD and carries a senior administrative officer grade-3 salary of £33,000 to £47,000.
