UNLV coach's humility aside, record of achievement is reason for optimism

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

When UNLV football coach Dan Mullen discovered he’d been ranked No. 14 among the best college coaches of the past two decades, his reaction was characteristically humble — equal parts flattered and bashful.

The ESPN ranking, which crowned Alabama’s Nick Saban at No. 1 for his championship dynasty, placed Mullen alongside coaching royalty. Georgia’s Kirby Smart claimed the No. 3 spot, followed by Urban Meyer at No. 5, Jim Harbaugh at No. 6, and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney at No. 10 — all coaches with impressive championship credentials.

For UNLV supporters, Mullen’s inclusion carries particular significance.

The 53-year-old brings decades of SEC coaching experience to Las Vegas after a four-year hiatus from the sidelines, positioning him perfectly to build on the Rebels’ recent momentum. The ESPN list required at least nine years of coaching experience, underscoring the depth of Mullen’s résumé.

True to form, Mullen deflected the praise with characteristic wit. “Coaching is 6 inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the rear end,” he said. “You can go from being really, really smart to really dumb as a coach.”

Despite his modest demeanor, the numbers speak for themselves: a 103-61 record across 13 seasons at Mississippi State and Florida, and developing the likes of quarterbacks Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott. Yet, Mullen seemed determined to shift credit elsewhere.

“I was fortunate enough to be on that list and coach some really good football players throughout the years,” he said this week at the Mountain West Media Days at Circa. “Our job is to put young men in a position to succeed, and I think our staffs throughout the years, we’ve had some very talented players, and we’ve been able to put them in that position.”

When asked about his new team, Mullen doesn’t hesitate to express optimism about what he sees from his players. Sure, every coach faces the inevitable preseason question about their squad’s potential, and most confidently predict winning seasons ahead.

But when Mullen voices that confidence, his words carry extra weight. After all, this is a coach who has won on college football’s biggest stages. So just how good are these Rebels?

“Go back to the 2014 team,” he said of Mississippi State’s team that finished 10-3 in one of the program’s most successful seasons. “I had a feeling we had a pretty good team. We ended up being No. 1 in the country for (four weeks). I kind of like our (UNLV) team. I don’t know the league, though. So that’s the hard part.”

Coaching accolades aside, the Mountain West Conference presents its own formidable gauntlet. There’s the grueling late-night trip to Hawaii, where kickoff times and travel fatigue conspire against visiting teams. Air Force’s disciplined option attack remains one of college football’s most difficult schemes to prepare for and defend. Then there are the brutal winter road games at altitude in Colorado State and Wyoming, where weather conditions can upend even the best-laid game plans.

And then there’s Boise State — the team ranked No. 1 in the preseason conference poll, boasting 10 players on the league’s preseason all-conference team, and the program that has dominated at the line of scrimmage while handing UNLV three of its six losses over the past two seasons.

These challenges would test any coach, even one who has spent most of his career mastering the chess match that is SEC football.

When Mullen talks about winning in different environments, he’s not just referring to conquering the Mountain West. He’s adamant about populating the nonconference schedule with college football’s elite programs, emphasizing that he agreed to coach UNLV because of the opportunity to win championships. He’s repeatedly stated his goal of bringing “big-time college football” to Las Vegas.

The foundation for that vision already exists. Last season’s record-breaking crowds for home games against Syracuse and Boise State offered a compelling glimpse of the potential, serving as a powerful reminder of how deeply locals embrace their hometown university when given something special to rally around.

Mullen was impressed with the program’s trajectory when he arrived. Now, it’s up to him to accelerate that momentum — and based on his track record, he’s more than ready for the challenge.

“I want to build a program that not just has the opportunity to compete in the Mountain West, but also, if you get on the big stage in the College Football Playoff, to go compete and win those games as well,” he said.

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