It took less than two weeks for UNLV athletic director Erick Harper to find a more than suitable replacement for Marcus Arroyo with the fast hiring of Barry Odom. In his brief two year stint, Odom, of course, gave UNLV football their best taste of success with 19 wins, participation in the league championship in both years, and national rankings along with smashing several school records along the way.

Odom's departure was as shocking as it was sudden, but it appears Harper has struck gold again, at least on paper, and this was in less than a week after Odom's announcement to take over at Purdue.

In what is sure to be viewed as one of the best hires in the country, UNLV and Dan Mullen have agreed to terms that make him the 14th head coach in UNLV's 50 year history.

Mullen's most recent stint was with the Florida Gators of the SEC, where led the Gators to 10 and 11 wins season before dipping down to an eight win season and being released after a six win season in 2021. With the Gators, he made three consecutive New Year's Six bowl games from 2018-2020. Since that time, he has spent time as an analyst for ESPN.

Before Florida, Mullen led Mississippi State to eight straight bowl games. He also elevated Mississippi State to a number 1 slot in the first ever College Football Playoff rankings back in 2014. At that time, the Bulldogs were led by Dallas' Dak Prescott.

As an offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Florida from 2005-2008, his spread option with Tim Tebow thrived. In 2020 as the head coach at Florida with Kyle Trask at quarterback, the Gators aerial attack was potent. While heading Florida, the Gators averaged greater than 30 points per game every season. In his last four seasons at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs put up better than 30 points per game.

With UNLV losing transfer Hajj-Malik Williams after next week's LA Bowl against Cal, getting a top flight quarterback from the portal will be imperative for the Rebels. Luckily for the Rebels, Mullen should be able to attract talent having coached Brian Johnson and Alex Smith at Utah, Tim Tebow and Kyle Trask at Florida and Dak Prescott at Mississippi State.

Though details of his contract are not yet known, it's been reported that a commintment to a greatly increased NIL budget and revenue sharing payments for players were part of the attraction.