Following the departure of UNLV football’s head coach, Berry Odom, who has accepted a new coaching position at Purdue, UNLV football is now looking for a new head coach. Odom successfully changed the culture of UNLV football, achieving a 19-8 record over two seasons, appearing in the Mountain west Championship for two straight years, and leading the Rebels into the top 25 of the AP Poll for the first time in program history. The question now is: who will be able to replace him after such a historic season? How about a guy named Dan Mullen?
Former Mississippi State and Florida head coach Dan Mullen began his head coaching career at Mississippi State in 2009. During his eight years at Mississippi State, he led the Bulldogs to eight bowl games in nine seasons, winning five of those games, which is the most by any coach in the program’s history. Mullen was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2014 and in that year he lead the Bulldogs to a No.1 ranking in the national polls during the regular season. Mullen put up a 69-46 record with the Bulldogs, the best since Allyn McKeen who put up a 65-19-3 record with Mississippi in 1939-48.
In 2017, Dan Mullen was hired as the head coach of the Florida Gators. After taking over an unranked program in 2018, Mullen quickly found success with the Gators, recording an impressive 11-2 record in 2019, which led the team to a No. 6 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll. In 2020, Mullen guided the Gators to the best passing offense in the nation, averaging 378.6 passing yards per game.
Throughout his career, Dan Mullen has developed several players who went on to be drafted into the NFL. Notable players such as Dak Prescott, Josh Harris, Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, and Omar Jacobs all played under Mullen during their college careers.
After Mullen was released by Florida in 2021, he began working for ESPN as a college football analyst.
If reports are accurate, his potential hiring could mark one of the biggest coaching appointments in Mountain West history. For UNLV Football, this would be a significant acquisition for the program moving forward.
UNLV Athletics has not came out with an official statement that they have hired Dan Mullen, but there is heavy speculation that a deal has already been made.
Make sure to stay on Vegas Sports Today for updates on this story.
Sources:
https://floridagators.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/dan-mullen/1018
https://hailstate.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/dan-mullen/295
