UNLV hired former Florida and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen on a five-year contract, a source briefed on the deal said Thursday. He replaces Barry Odom, who took over Purdue earlier this week.
Mullen, 52, has 13 years of FBS head-coaching experience, all in the SEC. His 69 wins over nine years at Mississippi State rank second in program history behind only Jackie Sherrill. Mullen briefly took the Bulldogs to No. 1 in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings during the 2014 season.
His four-year run at Florida was mixed. He guided the Gators to New Year’s Six bowl games in each of his first three seasons, winning 29 of his first 35 games and challenging Alabama for the SEC championship in 2020. But his tenure unraveled after one of his defensive backs threw a shoe against LSU that season. The penalty helped set up the Tigers’ game-winning field goal; Mullen lost eight of his next 13 games after that and was fired before the regular-season finale in 2021. He has spent the last three seasons as an ESPN analyst.
Mullen first established himself as one of the game’s top offensive minds and quarterback gurus as an assistant. He won a pair of national championships under Urban Meyer at Florida. He also coached Utah’s quarterbacks under Meyer when the Utes were in the Mountain West. Among the notable quarterbacks Mullen has developed: former No. 1 NFL draft pick Alex Smith, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, Heisman finalist Kyle Trask and Dallas Cowboys star Dak Prescott.
UNLV’s last SEC hire worked; Odom — the former head coach at Missouri — went 19-8 with the Rebels and had them in the College Football Playoff conversation this season.
Required reading
(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
