New UNLV football coach: ‘We are on the national stage of things’

Dan Mullen made his grand entrance through a tunnel of UNLV cheerleaders, matched in stride by athletic director Erick Harper.

Boosters and fans immediately burst into cheers once the former SEC coach and TV analyst appeared. The event was open to the public, at the fields where the Rebels usually practice.

UNLV president Keith E. Whitfield was first to speak, recalling the vastly different state of the football program when his tenure began in 2020.

An emotional Harper took the stage next. He noted that hiring Mullen would have been a “pipe dream” just a couple of years ago.

In some ways, Mullen’s hiring still seems like something a UNLV football fan would fantasize about. The 52-year-old was announced Thursday as Barry Odom’s replacement, just four days after Odom left to take over at Purdue.

“Two years ago this month, I stood before you as UNLV was a football program searching for an identity, hungry for relevance,” Harper said. “Twenty-four months later, your Rebels are ranked in the Top 25, just competed in back-to-back conference championship games and headed to California to play in a second straight bowl game for the first time in program history.”

Mullen, the 14th coach in program history, then took the stage. He said those developments within the program were only part of what drew him back to the sidelines.

It wasn’t long before he was describing the College Football Playoff as the “next step” for UNLV.

“I have to calm it down,” Mullen said early in his remarks. “We had a team meeting a couple minutes ago, and I have to tell you, that was probably the most alive I’ve felt in the last three years. Getting back in front of those guys, the players, all these guys that are out here, I’m just so excited to be a part of it.”

Mullen coached at Mississippi State and Florida until 2021, compiling a 103-61 record, but those three years he mentioned were spent discussing college football for ESPN and ABC. Just last month, Mullen told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum that it would take a perfect situation for him to return to coaching.

Harper said his recruiting process was aggressive. It included a flight to meet Mullen that Harper said he wouldn’t have returned from until he got a yes.

‘National stage’

Mullen said he was also swayed by the many trips he’s taken to Las Vegas for leisure and support.

He has sent 76 players under his collegiate tutelage to the NFL. With a track record of that caliber, Mullen has often found himself at the College Football Hall of Fame awards in Las Vegas, celebrating the inductions of his former student-athletes. Just this week, he was at the aforementioned ceremony as Alex Smith, whom Mullen coached at Utah, was being honored.

Last summer, Mullen called Odom about knee pain during a golf trip in Las Vegas. The two are “great friends” who were already connected because of their shared experience as SEC coaches, leading Odom to rope Mullen into an unexpected facilities tour. Mullen went to get checked out by UNLV’s training staff, and left with a realization of how much UNLV had advanced as a program.

“I got to come and see the facilities here, which is one of the biggest selling points to where this program is at,” Mullen said. “We are on the national stage of things. This is not a building project here. This program is on the up. This program is where it needs to be.”

What’s next

After Friday’s formalities ended, Mullen spoke to reporters in depth about his plans for UNLV.

In a development that may be new for longtime Rebels fans, the new coach didn’t express the desire to change anything.

“I want to learn from them,” Mullen said. “Obviously there’s a great culture here. I want to learn the culture, and the things that they love that they’ve embraced, and I want to add to it.”

Odom often described it as a “championship culture,” and Mullen wants the players who contributed the building it to stick around. Defensive back Tony Grimes and running back Greg Burrell had already entered the portal before Mullen’s arrival, and Odom has poached a number of UNLV’s early signing class to follow him to Purdue.

Mullen said he’s spoken with players individually to make sure they’re aware of all the necessary facts.

“I talked to the team, and I said, ‘I want everybody to stay,’” Mullen said. “I’m not looking through (the roster) saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to get rid of some guys and bring in my all my own guys.’ I want these guys. These guys have built it. I want them to be a part of it.”

But that doesn’t mean Mullen is taking a back seat in recruiting. When asked how soon the process would begin, he smiled and said he was “on the phone” from the moment he took the job.

“It’s a very different world of college football with the transfer portal,” Mullen said. “We’re going to actively go out and recruit some of the best players in the country to come here.”

Despite Mullen’s quick work on the job, he said he plans to watch from a distance when UNLV plays Cal on Wednesday in the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Interim coach Del Alexander will lead the team, while Mullen tries not to get too excited.

“If I am on the sidelines, I gotta watch that I don’t get a penalty,” he said. “I’d be running, high-fiving guys, jumping on them, celebrating with everybody.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.