Dan Mullen Aims To Elevate UNLV Football Into A Mountain West Powerhouse

Originally posted on UNLV Rebels on SI
By Mark Morales-Smith | Last updated Jun 6, 2025 11:35 AM ET

This offseason former Florida Gators head football coach Dan Mullen left his TV studio job as an analyst to take over the UNLV Rebels head coaching job which was vacated by Barry Odom who left to take the Purdue Boilermakers job. Mullen has expressed multiple times that he was waiting for the right job to become available and this was it.

However, despite going from the SEC to the Mountain West Conference, he doesn't view UNLV as a step down. He sees the Rebels as a team that is already on the cusp of greatness and all he needs to do is build off what this program and the city of Las Vegas have already established.

Dan Mullen On Taking Over A Program On The Rise:

“I’m taking over a team that was one half away from the College Football Playoff. There’s a lot in place already here that we just have to build on,” Mullen said.

Dan Mullen On UNLV Facilities And Las Vegas:

“When you come on our campus and you go to the stadium we play in, you are around this environment, you feel like you’re at a major program. You go to recruit and kids are looking out here at The Strip and they go, ‘There’s a lot of opportunities for me in this town that didn’t use to be available that, in today’s world, is all legal.’”

Mullen clearly has big goals in mind for the Rebels. They have a massive opportunity in front of them to become a powerhouse in the Mountain West with the Boise State Broncos along with four other teams leaving the conference to join the Pac-12. Their new head coach has a vision that he will look to make a reality and take the UNLV football program to the highest heights they've ever been to.