So, one of the names tossed around for potential availability is an old grinder fired from Florida before the Napier pending failure, Dan Mullen. He seems to have gotten back into the swing of things at UNLV, but does he want the gas that comes from Power conference expectations?
It seems from sources no less than CBS Sports that Mullen is perfectly happy to stay in Vegas doing the Running Rebel thing. You have to admit that Las Vegas might be just a bit more fun with more things to do (and trouble
to get into) than Blacksburg.
Yes, the question was about Penn State, but State College is about as exciting as Blacksburg and the nearest big city is Pittsburgh to them or maybe Harrisburg… Roanoke isn’t either of those cities, but few Blacksburgers spend much time down Christiansburg Mountain for more than some shopping at a better mall, BJ’s or Sam’s.
The next thing in line is something that we all have to admit to. The ACC is a “better” conference than the Mountain West… but only in tradition. With an organization that has a name reflective of the distant past, it’s no wonder the conference thinks of itself as a Power conference. The ACC might be slightly ahead of the peloton Bell curve as the MW, but only slightly. Maybe if they throw in Men’s basketball.
The short note on it is that Mullen has been at the Power 5 level, and the experience wasn’t particularly pleasant. My guess is that the Gator experience in Gainsville might have left a bad taste in his mouth… But maybe he’s up for something of the pork variety.
Once Arkansas, UCLA, and Oklahoma State fired their coaches, those opportunities presented more prestigious opportunities, anyway. That means that the media has to find something to boost someone somewhere else than where they are. The assumption of the mercenary life of loyalty only to the highest bidder just seems to agree with the press. The push-pull will continue, but note that Virginia Tech isn’t particularly high on the list of target locations.
Report Says That UNLV Rebels Head Coach Dan Mullen Wants Arkansas Razorbacks Job “So Bad”
Is it all about the money, really?
Mullen’s record is recorded as 109-61 with 10 bowls (7-3 record there). He’s been the Head Coach of Mississippi State and Florida. He did an 8-season stint with the Bulldogs, and had a reasonable record, there. It wasn’t flashy but it also wasn’t horrible. He didn’t have a +.500 record in the SEC, though. Overall, he was 69-46 with a 33-39 record in the conference. The Virginia Tech question on that experience should be – are we looking for “not horrible” but “not flashy”?
Mullen’s record in Florida was shorter at four seasons, but the Gators are very impatient, and even with a “less not horrible” record at 34-15 overall, and 21-14 in the conference (much better that way – except he only took one Eastern Division crown and no conference championships). Mullen’s final season in Gainesville was pretty terrible. His team ended up 5-6 with a 2-6 conference record. “Not horrible” but “not flashy” worked for always mediocre Mississippi State, but Florida was used to competing for Natties and SEC conference titles. They showed Mullen the door pretty quickly after the 2021 season, and Mullen headed out the coaching door to do some commentary work at ESPN.
That’s important to remember, because he reportedly pocketed a pretty penny being shown the Gators’ door. So, is it the money? It objectively should be, so it’s got to be the power trip and the flash.
The UNLV Gig is Fresh and Stale at the Same Time.
Mullen jumped back into coaching by taking over the UNLV Running Rebels this season. Some sources were saying that he had two seasons there, but no, it’s just 2025. He is 6-0 at the moment, but umm.. it’s not the SEC or even the Big XII or ACC. The Mountain West is a mixed bag of former FCS programs and very low level underfunded G5 squads. Mountain West Conference The best of the mix is Air Force, Boise State, and Utah State. How many folks would like to coach in that sort of league with an occasional trip to Hawaii in the mix?
That makes Mullen a prime candidate for a real coaching expert to shout loudly in his ear about staying where he is for a few years before going back to the Ego League to fail in mediocrity again. It’s looking like Mullen might like to hang around in the desert playing the likes of Hawaii, San Diego State, and Nevada Reno.
The pressure is certainly less oppressive, the fan expectations are in the modest range, and even if this is a negotiating tactic, it’s a good tack to take. So many people in the media expect that a coach who has tasted the big time would want to go back to biting at that apple, don’t see the worms, and maybe Mullen does.
Question: Would Mullen come to Blacksburg?
He’d be coaching a mediocre program in a subpar conference. He’d be living in the mountains of southwest Virginia hours from anything “city fun” to do, and even those cities are pretty boring. He’d get a rabid fanbase that is at best cheap, at its worst parsimonious and he’d be in lots of hot competition for 3-Star talent with 3-Star talent private/non-official NIL money.
Maybe he likes turkey better than wild boar? It’s not completely certain, but the overall grade for hiring Dan Mullen would be disappointing. The Mullen Boosters are forgetting that he’s looking for getting back to big time college football, and Virginia Tech struggles at being modest time affair.
If he was interested, and if the committee hired him, Mullen might stay a few years, but there’s no way, if the Hokies don’t make it into the new Power 2 conferences that are forming, he’d be here for long. It seems, for now, Mullen is satisfied with the buffet and floor show scene in Vegas. We’ll see how that shakes out in January, but for now Mullen is taking a passive pass.
The Coaching Search Chart
We are introducing a chart of some relative scoring for the coaching search and the list of coaches from the prior article. The scores are on a 0-5 scale with the usual 0 being the lowest, and 5 being the highest. There will be a plus ‘+‘ or a minus ‘-’ behind the score if there is something in between or greater. It’s pretty simple, really. We’ll add scores and comments as we get the coaches reviewed.
There will be a Poll at the End
We’ll conduct a poll at the end of the series to test the water and see how you are thinking. Now, it might be a more accurate, realistic poll if you’d put down the adult sodas and think clearly. Of course, we won’t judge if you don’t.
