Earlier in the offseason, we heard UNLV Rebels new head basketball coach Josh Pastner talk about how his perspective from having a TV gig and being on the outside looking in as the college landscape changed can be used as an advantage for him. He also spoke about wanting to win now, regardless of what expectations are. Rebels head football coach Dan Mullen has some very familiar takes when he talked about the same topics.
“It's been a benefit to be on the outside looking in of all the changes. You can kind of look at the game a little bit differently and understand what the changes are, and how the changes are and how kids are processing things, how decisions are being made. When you come back into it, there's a little bit more of an understanding.”
“The five years is, ‘Hey, where is the program as a whole?’ more than, ‘I see where we are today; I know where we'll be in five years, because all the freshmen are going to be seniors at that point. You're not looking at it from a roster and a team [perspective] — you’re kind of looking at more of, 'Hey, big picture, where is the program?'”
“You look at the history of UNLV, there's not this expectation of winning and competing for championships here. However, I've had that my whole career. We've come in Day 1, and I wanted to win. I like winning. And when you look at the guys that are here — the younger players — over the last two years, they've won, so their expectations are of winning. My expectations are to win. And a lot of the players we brought in, their expectations are to win.”
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