{"id":306405,"date":"2025-10-15T21:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306405\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T21:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T21:55:11","slug":"dan-mullen-insists-he-will-be-coaching-at-unlv-in-2026-im-not-going-anywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306405\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Mullen insists he will be coaching at UNLV in 2026: &#8216;I&#8217;m not going anywhere&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s mid-October, but the coaching carousel is already starting to spin. Multiple power conference jobs are already open, most recently at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/penn-state-nittany-lions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Penn State<\/a><\/strong> after the firing of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/james-franklin-131195\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">James Franklin<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One name coming up in the early part of the cycle is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/dan-mullen-131193\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Dan Mullen<\/a><\/strong>, who has <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/unlv-rebels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">UNLV<\/a><\/strong> off to a 6-0 start in his first season at the helm. However, he made it clear he plans to stay in Las Vegas in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Mullen proclaimed he\u2019d still be with the Rebels next year as the rumors swirl. He definitively said as much during a press conference this week and said he told the players the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll be here. \u2026 You want me to do that? I\u2019m gonna be the head coach at UNLV next year,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SS_MediaLV\/status\/1978140428177195044\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mullen said<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ll be here. I\u2019m not going anywhere. \u2026 I said it to the players. I told them that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mullen spent some time away from coaching after his departure from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/florida-gators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida<\/a><\/strong>, but returned to the sidelines this year at UNLV following <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/barry-odom-133371\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Barry Odom\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> departure. So far, it\u2019s been a strong start as UNLV takes an undefeated record into Week 8\u2019s matchup against <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/boise-state-broncos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Boise State<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In the era of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/transfer-portal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">transfer portal<\/a><\/strong>, Mullen\u2019s message to the players was simple. He doesn\u2019t want them worrying about him leaving.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the transfer portal world,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cI said, \u2018Don\u2019t get all excited and think I might go somewhere you think is, like, a better place. I\u2019m gonna be here.\u2019 You guys are stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mullen\u2019s name has come up in early conversations for multiple job openings. On3\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/user\/petenakos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Pete Nakos<\/a><\/strong> listed him as a name to watch for both the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/news\/arkansas-razorbacks-football-coaching-search-names-to-know-timelines-to-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Arkansas<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/news\/ucla-head-coach-hot-board-top-candidates-to-replace-deshaun-foster\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">UCLA<\/a><\/strong> jobs after those opened. But former <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/ohio-state-buckeyes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ohio State<\/a><\/strong> and Florida coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/urban-meyer-132190\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Urban Meyer<\/a><\/strong> suggested Mullen for another job: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/news\/urban-meyer-pitches-dan-mullen-for-james-franklin-replacement-at-penn-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Penn State<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow about Dan Mullen,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hfXlN00wdkk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Meyer said on The Triple Option<\/a>. \u201cDamn right he is (undefeated) \u2026 Scored 51 last week \u2026 And you know, he\u2019s from the northeast, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mullen has a career 109-61 record as a head coach at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/mississippi-state-bulldogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mississippi State<\/a><\/strong>, Florida and UNLV. He led MSU to a 10-win season and a Top-12 finish in 2014 before heading to Gainesville in 2018, where he worked until 2021. From 2022-24, he worked for ESPN as a studio analyst and calling Thursday night primetime games alongside <strong>Matt Barrie<\/strong> before getting back in the game at UNLV this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s mid-October, but the coaching carousel is already starting to spin. Multiple power conference jobs are already open,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":306406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-306405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115380415525749401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}