UNLV's hiring of Dan Mullen to be their head coach is the right move heading into new era
The UNLV Rebels haven't been the highest-profile program over the last 30 years but they have seen a major resurgence under head coach Barry Odom. In his two seasons as the head coach, Odom went 19-8 with two appearances in the Mountain West Championship Game, both of them losses to Boise State. With Odom now […]
The UNLV Rebels haven't been the highest-profile program over the last 30 years but they have seen a major resurgence under head coach Barry Odom. In his two seasons as the head coach, Odom went 19-8 with two appearances in the Mountain West Championship Game, both of them losses to Boise State.
With Odom now off to be the head coach of Purdue, the Rebels needed to make a hire to usher them into the world of NIL and revenue sharing and they made the move to hire a very successful coach from the power four ranks.
The Rebels have named former Florida Gators and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen to be their next head coach.
Mullen has spent the last three years as a commentator and analyst for ESPN after being fired at Florida after four seasons. He was a head coach at the power four level for 13 consecutive years with a 103-61 record and 7-3 in bowl games. He also made three consecutive New Year's Six bowl games with the Gators from 2018-2020.
The most impressive element of Mullen's head coaching resume is the work he did with the Bulldogs, including leading them and Dak Prescott to the first ever number one ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings in 2014.
Mullen's tenure at Florida didn't end very well, as he seemed very disconnected from the job at the end and recruiting fell off of a cliff. It was rough to watch in real-time, but the pressure of recruiting won't be nearly as stressful at UNLV, as you have Las Vegas there to be a huge draw for you.
Where Mullen excels at is coaching up teams. He was one of the pioneers of the spread option when he was the offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Florida from 2005-2008. What he does extremely well is tailor the offense to whoever is playing quarterback. The 2020 offense with Kyle Trask was a vertical passing offense whereas the National Championship years with the Gators was a QB run-heavy attack with Tim Tebow.
The Rebels needed to bring in a talented coach who can elevate the offense and without a lot of quality G5 options, Mullen gets the nod and it looks to be the right move.
