Wheaton (Illinois) head men’s soccer coach Joe Bean announced plans to retire after the 2006 season.

Bean currently is the winningest soccer coach in collegiate history with a career record of 591-176-56. He is nine wins shy of becoming the first collegiate soccer coach to collect 600 victories.

The majority of Bean’s 44 seasons as a collegiate head coach have been with the Wheaton men’s program. Since taking over in 1969, Bean has guided the Thunder to 23 conference championships and 31 postseason appearances. Wheaton captured NCAA Division III national championships in 1984 and 1997, and the Thunder were national semifinalists in 1990 and national runner-ups in 1999.

Bean served as the first soccer coach at Quinnipiac from 1962 to 1964 and also spent four seasons as head coach at Bridgeport (Connecticut).