Joe Bean built Wheaton College’s men’s soccer program into a national powerhouse during his 37 years as head coach, winning two national titles, finishing as runners-up two other times and notching some 23 conference championships.
At the time of his retirement in 2006, Bean was the winningest men’s soccer coach in NCAA history, with 607 victories against 185 losses and 61 ties.
“Division III sports is where decent athletes go who just want to keep playing, and thus a successful coach is really more of a leader and developer of men. And Joe was a tremendous leader of men,” said Wheaton City Council member Scott Brown, who was captain of the 1997 national championship team.
Bean, 85, died of a heart attack Feb. 13 at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, said his wife, Shirley. He was a longtime Wheaton resident.
Joseph Waller Bean was born in Sayre, Pennsylvania, the son of the Rev. Zenas Bean and LouElla Bean. In high school, he excelled in football, basketball and baseball. He received a bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg State University, where he played football before pivoting to soccer.
Bean picked up a master’s degree in physical education and counseling from Ohio University before beginning his coaching career. “He just loved sports,” his wife said. “He fell in love with it.”
Bean put in brief stints as head men’s soccer coach at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, a Division I school, and nearby University of Bridgeport, a Division II institution. In 1969, Bean was hired to replace Bob Baptista as head men’s soccer coach at Wheaton College, where he also taught physical education and, for a time, served as the school’s admissions director.
In 1969, soccer was just beginning to grow in popularity at the prep sports level.
“When I came to Wheaton in 1969, there were 31 Illinois high schools that had boys soccer teams,” Bean told the Tribune in 1986. “Today there are around 185. There was no state playoff system then. They’ve now had state playoffs for about 10 years. Soccer goes back to 1935 at this school. It’s a very respected part of the athletic program.”
Bean worked to balance an offensive-minded coaching strategy with keeping the emotions of his players in check. He was known for pulling players cited with a “caution card” for overaggressive play or unsportsmanlike conduct out of the game.
“Our sport is fast-moving and it can be violent,” Bean told the Tribune in 1991. “We try to pride ourselves on containing our emotions.”
Eric Bosshard, a defenseman and 1991 team captain who went on to co-found the equity research firm Cleveland Research, recalled Bean’s enthusiasm and his frequent missions trips with soccer players to other countries.
“The single word I would use to describe Coach Bean is passion. From my first practice, it was very clear that this man had the highest standards for effort, something I embraced then and has stuck with me through my life,” Bosshard said. “I was blessed to spend three weeks in the summer of 1991 with (Bean) and the team in Russia and Poland. He brilliantly directed a trip that centered on loving the people we met with a daily commitment to excellent soccer.”
Bean told the Tribune in 1983 that as a Christian school’s athletic team, “sometimes we’re put on a pedestal, but we’re conscious of the bad actions and bad words. We just try to perfect our lives on a daily basis.”
The college’s men’s soccer team never had played in a title match until 1984, when Bean led the team to a 21-1-2 record. The team won the Division III championship over Brandeis University on a penalty-kick goal by the captain, Dave Kouwe, with 4 minutes and 39 seconds left in sudden-death overtime. It was Wheaton’s 23rd straight match without a loss.
Wheaton won a second title in 1997, defeating the defending champion, College of New Jersey. Brown and his twin brother, Skip, were starters on the team, and their younger brother, Eric, scored all three goals in the 3-0 victory.
Brown said that Bean was successful even though he wasn’t a tactician.
“I don’t ever recall him demonstrating a drill, but he knew that and always had tremendous assistant coaches to handle that side of things,” he said.
The 1997 title-winning team was part of a record-breaking, three-year streak in which Wheaton’s men’s soccer team was unbeaten for 66 games. That streak bested the previous national streak of 65 straight unbeaten games, set by Penn State University in 1941.
“At one time I thought that Penn State’s record was unattainable,” Bean told the Tribune in 1997. “But now I say, ‘Why not?’ We have the people who can do it.”
“He was a sensational soccer coach but that is really only a part of what made him special,” said Wheaton College’s athletic director and head men’s basketball coach Mike Schauer, who played basketball as a student at the college. “He always had an encouraging word for me whether as a student-athlete, a young assistant coach or more recently as I moved into the AD role. I learned so much from him over the years.”
Wheaton’s current men’s soccer coach, Steve McCrath, recalled the hospitality extended to him and his family by Bean and his wife after McCrath was hired in 2022.
“Joe was the godfather of Wheaton soccer and he was the godfather of kindness. Joe made you feel seen every time,” McCrath said. “He loved Wheaton sports and all that came with it — he was for everything Wheaton sports had to offer.”
Bean’s teams were national runners-up in 1999 and 2006, and he became the first collegiate men’s soccer coach to reach 600 career victories. He also served as chairman of the ethics committee of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, a role that involved him reviewing player infractions.
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America twice named Bean NCAA Division III Coach of the Year.
After Bean retired in December 2006, the college renamed its soccer stadium Joe Bean Stadium in his honor.
In addition to his wife, Bean is survived by two daughters, Pam Thonn and Laurie Narup; two sons, JT and JG; a brother, Zenas; 15 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Services were held.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
