UNLV is turning into Mississippi State West

Former Missouri head coach Barry Odom had a very successful two-year stint reviving the UNLV football program. In two years, the Rebels went 19-8 and made a Mountain West Conference Championship Game appearance each season. That led to Odom getting the Purdue job this offseason.

UNLV is going back to the SEC blueprint. Dan Mullen is taking over in Las Vegas after spending the last three seasons working for ESPN. The play-calling head coach spent nine years at Mississippi State leading the Bulldogs to three top-25 finishes. Mullen then moved to Florida and led the program to three New Year’s Six bowl berth before being fired after year four.

Mullen is bringing some more Starkville flavor to Vegas. Former Mississippi State defensive coordinator and head coach Zach Arnett will be Mullen’s first defensive coordinator at UNLV.

Leading our defense.

Welcome to Las Vegas, Coach Arnett 🎰

📰 https://t.co/v2bmAgyc67 pic.twitter.com/xH417RWcNu

— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) December 30, 2024

The 38-year-old defensive play-caller became a defensive coordinator at San Diego State in 2018 and was hired by Mike Leach to be his defensive coordinator at Mississippi State in 2022. Following Leach’s sudden passing after the 2022 regular season, Arnett was named Mississippi State’s head coach but that lasted only one season. Arnett spent the 2024 campaign working as an analyst at Ole Miss. Now Arnett will be working for another Mississippi State coach.

UNLV will have a ton of Mississippi State flavor.

2024 coaching carousel

School	New head coach	Former job	Age
Appalachian State	Dowell Loggains	South Carolina offensive coordinator	44
Ball State	Mike Uremovich	Butler head coach	48
Central Michigan	Mike Drinkall	Army offensive line coach	42
Charlotte	Tim Albin	Ohio head coach	59
East Carolina	Blake Harrell	East Carolina defensive coordinator	45
Florida Atlantic	Zach Kittley	Texas Tech offensive coordinator	33
Fresno State	Matt Entz	USC linebackers coach	52
Jacksonville State	Charles Kelly	Auburn co-defensive coordinator	57
Kennesaw State	Jerry Mack	Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach	44
Marshall	Tony Gibson	NC State defensive coordinator	52
UMass	Joe Harasymiak	Rutgers defensive coordinator	38
New Mexico	Jason Eck	Idaho head coach	47
North Carolina	Bill Belichick	Media	72
Ohio	Brian Smith	Ohio offensive coordinator	44
Purdue	Barry Odom	UNLV head coach	48
Rice	Scott Abell	Davidson head coach	55
Sam Houston	Phil Longo	Wisconsin offensive coordinator	56
Southern Miss	Charles Huff	Marshall head coach	41
Temple	K.C. Keeler	Sam Houston head coach	65
Tulsa	Tre Lamb	East Tennessee State head coach	35
UCF	Scott Frost	Los Angeles Rams analyst	49
UNLV	Dan Mullen	Media	52
Utah State	Bronco Mendenhall	New Mexico head coach	58
Wake Forest	Jake Dickert	Washington State head coach	41
Washington State	Jimmy Rogers	South Dakota State head coach	37
West Virginia	Rich Rodriguez	Jacksonville State head coach	61