Dan Mullen publicly shoots down speculation about taking Arkansas’ head coach job and reveals his preferred candidate for the Razorbacks
Dan Mullen has no plans too coach the Razorbacks.
Dan Mullen, the former head coach at both Florida and Mississippi State, will hear his name plenty when it comes to this year’s coaching carousel around college football. He is a well-respected offensive mind who has won plenty at multiple levels, in multiple locations, so far in his coaching career. He’s currently the head coach for the UNLV Rebels.
UNLV is off to a 6-0 start to his first season with the school, and there is a possibility that they will make the College Football Playoff by regular season’s end. There may not be enough reasons for him to leave the program – but of course, money talks, and other schools will certainly try their hand at reeling in Mullen to be their next HC. Mullen doesn’t think he will be coaching at Arkansas, though.
Dan Mullen doesn’t plan on taking Arkansas head coaching job
The experienced head coach isn’t looking to head back to the SEC, at least for one team. Mullen put an end to any speculation that he will be the next Arkansas Razorbacks head coach on Twitter/X.
“0.0 interest in Arkansas. Thanks for the shout out though. Y’all need to hire Gus Malzahn.” — Dan Mullen
Mullen recently addressed these sort of rumors about his future as well. He was direct and confident in his future. Leaving is not on his mind right now. He plans to stick around with the Rebels.
“I’ll be here. … You want me to do that? I’m gonna be the head coach at UNLV next year.” “I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere. … I said it to the players. I told them that.”
“Don’t get all excited and think I might go somewhere you think is, like, a better place. I’m gonna be here.’ You guys are stuck with me.” — Dan Mullen on what he has told UNLV players amid speculation
“Mullen’s name has come up in early conversations for multiple job openings. On3’s Pete Nakos listed him as a name to watch for both the Arkansas and UCLA jobs after those opened. But former Ohio State and Florida coach Urban Meyer suggested Mullen for another job: Penn State.” — On3.com
Gus Malzahn named top candidate by Mullen for Razorbacks
As his post noted, Mullen mentioned Gus Malzahn, the current offensive coordinator at Florida State, as who he would choose for the Razorbacks opening. Malzahn spent some time at Auburn and Arkansas State as their head coach. I discussed Arkansas’ opening after firing Sam Pittman and where Malzahn weighs in with Justin Churchill.
“The Arkansas Razorbacks fired Sam Pittman in what many fans would consider a long-overdue move. An offensive line coach who had never been a coordinator, didn’t produce great offensive lines, didn’t win the big rivalry games that he was supposed to, outside of Texas that one time, and didn’t recruit well, could have been fired a year or two ago. Now, they are tasked with finding someone who is willing to coach in the SEC, with one of the hardest schedules every single year, and not much NIL money to use. That’s not a job many people will find enticing, I.E., Dan Mullen.”
“As for Gus Malzahn, there’s a feeling that Arkansas would not go after him again after they did a while back. In 2017, the then-Auburn Tigers head coach may have used the Hogs as leverage to get more money from Auburn. Whatever it was, it worked. That rubbed people at Arkansas the wrong way, and it feels like the former Arkansas OC under Houston Nutt may not even be someone the Razorbacks are interested in. Not to mention, Malzahn may be interested in just being a coordinator, now, as he’s pretty content and happy at Florida State.” — Justin Churchill, A to Z Sports
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