Dan Mullen was a fixture as a head coach in the SEC for over a decade, first at Mississippi State and then at Florida from 2009-21.
The 53-year-old who’s resurfaced in the college world in 2025 at UNLV had his philosophy, and it involved luring a lot of JUCO and portal transfers to Starkville and Gainesville. That philosophy worked pretty well, too, as Mullen went 69-46 at Mississippi State and 34-15 at Florida. It didn’t end well at UF in 2021, but for Mullen that was the needed gateway to taking a sabbatical as an ESPN college football analyst for 3 years from 2022-24.
This fall, when Mullen leads the UNLV football team, he’ll be in a totally different world from where he left coaching, but he’ll be employing a similar philosophy. Before the transfer portal existed, he specialized in JUCO transfers helping his SEC programs. Now, smack in the middle of the transfer portal era, he’s brought a brigade of transfer talent to Sin City.
How does 16 former 4- or 5-star players at UNLV in 2025 sound? It sounds like Mullen, who talked to CBS Sports about his transfer philosophy coming to fruition at UNLV, which only returns 2 starters this fall, the fewest in the FBS.
No matter. The flock of players who either graduated or transferred when Barry Odom departed has been partially replenished by a wave of transfer talent. By this summer alone, the Rebels had signed 33 players with Power 4 Conference experience, which is astounding for a program like UNLV. That number grew to 37 former Power 4 players, which not surprisingly is more than double the next closest Mountain West program.
Those 4- and 5-star guys who’ve come to Vegas to play for Mullen won’t hurt, either, of course. Neither will the 21 newcomers from SEC and Big Ten schools alone, with 4 holdovers from Mullen’s time at Florida joining the potential party at UNLV.
“You can’t take everybody that is a ‘Last Chance U’ guy. You can’t have a roster where everybody hasn’t played much. You have to get the right combination. … The first question I ask guys is, ‘Why? Why did you get in the portal?’ I want to know your ‘why’ to see how you fit, not just as a talented player, but how your personality fits within our program,” explained Mullen to CBS Sports.
Soon, all that big-time talent will come together in the unlikely program in Las Vegas, and Mullen will see how it all blends to start his new coaching life.
Dan Mullen describes his transfer portal approach at UNLV: ‘You can’t take everybody that is a ‘Last Chance U’ guy’ Saturday Down South.
Hence then, the article about dan mullen describes his transfer portal approach at unlv you can t take everybody that is a last chance u guy was published today ( ) and is available on SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Dan Mullen describes his transfer portal approach at UNLV: ‘You can’t take everybody that is a ‘Last Chance U’ guy’ )
Also on site :