Dan Mullen Talks Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott, And Why He Believes In This UNLV Team

Originally posted on UNLV Rebels on SI
By Mark Morales-Smith | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The Mountain West Conference hosted its annual Mountain West Media Days this past week. The UNLV Rebels were represented by their new head coach, Dan Mullen. Mullen took the time to talk about a wide variety of topics. He spoke about his past experience coaching star players like Tim Tebow, Alex Smith, and Dak Prescott and how his new Rebel squad compares to some of his very successful teams of the past.

Mullen talked about being a head coach and having coached some great college players in his career.

Dan Mullen Talking About Coaching Tim Tebow, Alex Smith, And Dak Prescott:

“Coaching is 6 inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the rear end. You can go from being really, really smart to really dumb as a coach... I was fortunate enough to be on that list and coach some really good football players throughout the years. Our job is to put young men in a position to succeed, and I think our staffs throughout the years, we’ve had some very talented players, and we’ve been able to put them in that position.”

He also compared this year's UNLV team to his highly successful Mississippi State team from back in 2014.

Dan Mullen Comparing UNLV to His 2024 Mississippi State Team:

“Go back to the 2014 team. I had a feeling we had a pretty good team. We ended up being No. 1 in the country for (four weeks). I kind of like our (UNLV) team. I don’t know the league, though. So that’s the hard part... I want to build a program that not just has the opportunity to compete in the Mountain West, but also, if you get on the big stage in the College Football Playoff, to go compete and win those games as well.”