Ranking Every Mountain West Head Coach Ahead Of The 2025 College Football Season

Originally posted on UNLV Rebels on SI
By Mark Morales-Smith | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 11:47 AM ET

The Mountain West Conference is no doubt in a transitional period right now. There will be a lot of changes next year with teams leaving the conference for the Pac-12 and new teams joining to fill those holes. There has also been a lot of turnover when it comes to the head coaches in the Mountain West. Four teams will be entering the season with a first-year head coach for their program. We are going to take a look and rank all the head coaches in the conference.

1. Dan Mullen, UNLV Rebels

Mullen left his cushy ESPN studio job to take over the UNLV program from Barry Odom who found great success in Las Vegas before leaving to take the Purdue Boilermakers job. He brings SEC head coaching experience and a National Championship pedigree with him from his days as the Florida Gators offensive coordinator.

2. Spencer Danielson, Boise State Broncos

Danielson has been the king of the Mountain West. Not only are the Broncos once again the reigning conference champions, but they also earned themselves a college football playoff bid last season.

“As long as we always have a shot, then we have to go out and win the games. We have to do what it takes. But you’d better give me a shot.”

— Boise State coach Spencer Danielson on the College Football Playoff pic.twitter.com/x5a3NMbhj6
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) June 23, 2025

3. Troy Calhoun, Air Force Falcons

Calhoun is the face of consistency in the Mountain West. He will enter his 19th season as the head coach of the Falcons this upcoming season and 135 - 89 record during his run at Air Force.

4. Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State Aggies

Mendenhall comes in at No. 4, but could be in danger of dropping if he doesn't have a strong year. This is his first season with the Aggies after a year with New Mexico. Most of his success came with BYU in the 2010's.

5. Matt Entz, Fresno State Bulldogs

Yet another new coach, Entz has had a lot of FCS success and earned this head coaching job after a stint with the USC Trojans as an assistant head coach.

6. Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State Spartans

In 2024, he had a solid first year with the Spartans, but we would like to see the team take another step forward this season before bumping him up any higher.

7. Jay Norvell, Colorado State Rams

It looks like Norvell has started to get the Rams heading in the right direction. He's another coach with a chance to make a big jump this season.

8. Sean Lewis, San Diego State Aztecs

Lewis's first season with the Aztecs didn't go great last season. However, it was his first year and it's only fair to give him some time to change the culture of the defensive program it was to the offensive program he wants to make it.