The Future is Bright for 2026 and Beyond
With any head coaching change, elite manager or not, growing pains in year one tend to follow. Couple this point with the fact that Boise State is still in the Mountain West, it’s all but assured that the Rebels won’t be winning the conference in 2025.
However, beginning in 2026, Mullen and the Rebels will have a real shot of bringing sustained silverware-styled success to Sin City. Thus, here’s three reasons why the Rebels will lasso both the attention of its conference and college football coast to coast.
It’ll be Year 2 under Dan Mullen
Programs typically begin to make tangible strides in the second year of a head coach’s tenure, and this’ll undoubtedly be the case for UNLV under Mullen. The Pennsylvania-native will have had multiple spring practices and fall camps, as well as the 2025 game season to implement his philosophies — whether that’d be his style of play, mentality, training methods, etc. As we know, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a championship football team. Year two will mark anew.
Recruiting Surge
Once again, the Mullen effect will be on full display for UNLV, but this time it won’t be on the field of play. Rather, Dan will dazzle on the recruiting trail.
For me, it has always been a mind-boggler that UNLV has struggled to recruit in football. The university is located in Las Vegas for goodness’ sake. In addition, it just so happens that the Entertainment Capital of the World is also a rather fertile football recruiting playground — Bishop Gorman High School resides in Las Vegas.
The Gaels are so talented that not only do they win state titles for fun, Bishop Gorman also competes for national titles on a yearly basis — The Gaels won the National Title in 2014, 2016, and 2023. As a result, it’s of no surprise that the Gaels’ football program routinely churns out high quality D1 student-athletes. With that said, typically the most sought after prospects leave the Vegas metro-area to ply their trade out-of-state.
With Dan Mullen now at the helm for the Rebels, I suspect that he’ll be able to keep some of these homegrown talents from departing the state of Nevada. In addition, courtesy of Mullen’s extensive SEC background, he’ll likely be able to recruit rather well within various parts of the southeast. In turn, UNLV will see a marked improvement in quality throughout the squad and within the record column.
Conference Realignment
Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, is the shakeup that will occur in 2026 due to conference realignment. UNLV will say so long to competitors Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State — these current Mountain West members are leaving for the Pac-12.
Hence, the Rebels have a legitimate opportunity to become the Mountain West’s flagship football program beginning with the 2026 season. To put this shakeup into perspective, the defectors account for 17 of the 18 conference championships won by current Mountain West members — San Jose State is the lone exception, winning the MW Championship in 2020.
So with that said, opportunity beckons for UNLV to stake its claim as a Mountain West and Group of 5 powerhouse…..we just have to be patient and wait until 2026 to witness the Mullen ‘Magic’.