Dan Mullen hired as next head football coach at UNLV
UNLV announced on Thursday that Dan Mullen has been hired as the Rebels’ next head football coach. Mullen is 103-61 in his career as a head coach with stints at Mississippi State (2009-17) and Florida (2018-21).
“We are ecstatic to announce the hiring of Dan Mullen, who is both an innovator and nationally respected leader in the sport of football,” AD Erick Harper said in a statement. “The momentum of UNLV football continues to skyrocket with Coach Mullen coming aboard and is even more proof that our university is serious about success. Rebel Nation came alive while watching this program reach new heights the last two seasons and we are excited to keep it moving forward under the leadership of someone the caliber of Dan Mullen.”
Mullen is a member of the Urban Meyer coaching tree, having been on his staff at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida before getting his first head coaching job in Starkville in 2009. He built the MSU program into a consistent winner, going to eight bowl games and three times finishing ranked in the AP Top 25. Mullen left in 2018 to take over at Florida, where he had been Meyer’s OC on the Gators’ 2006 and 2008 BCS National Championship teams.
He went 34-15 in four years at Florida, including a combined 21-5 in his first two seasons with wins in the 2018 Peach Bowl and 2019 Orange Bowl. Mullen has spent the past several years working as an analyst for ESPN.
“I am very excited to be a part of the UNLV family,” said Mullen. “These past two years, a foundation has been set to compete for championships, including being just one game away from making the College Football Playoff, which is a great testament to where we plan on continuing to be. My expectation is to keep that excitement and momentum alive and produce a team for the University, the City of Las Vegas and the State of Nevada that is going to compete for championships on a regular basis. I want to thank President Keith Whitfield and AD Erick Harper for this opportunity. Our program will make the university proud and benefit our student-athletes equally both on and off the field. I look forward to creating excitement for all UNLV Athletics and our goal is to be the premier program in the Mountain West.”
The Rebels are 10-3 this year and are heading to the LA Bowl next week under interim head coach Del Alexander. Previous head coach Barry Odom left to take over at Purdue last week after two seasons in Vegas.
credit to UNLV Athletics for the image
