New Era Begins: Dan Mullen Leads UNLV Football’s First Spring Practice

The UNLV Rebels held their first football practice under new head coach Dan Mullen.

Mark Morales-Smith | Mar 28, 2025

Former Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen on the sidelines against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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UNLV Rebels

The UNLV Rebels football team held their first spring practice of the new season on Thursday. It was the first practice held under new head coach Dan Mullen. It was a practice that exceeded two hours and featured a new coaching staff as well as 50 new players practicing as Rebels for the first time.

This was the first of 15 practices allowed by the NCAA. Their next practice will be held on Saturday, March 29. Following practice on Thursday, Mullen spoke to the media after seeing his new squad practice for the first time.

"It's great to be back out here," said Mullen. " I think there's great culture, great attitude and energy with the players. To have everybody out here and to see everyone flying around having some fun, it's a good thing... I've talked to our guys about development. At the end of the spring, we don't play anybody. We're 0-0, and it's a long time until we have a game, so we're not worried about if we're ready to play. We're focused on getting better every single day. Everything is about player development this entire spring and making sure we as a team take huge steps in our growth."

Mullen will attempt to continue building the culture at UNLV and build off the success the previous regime had in Vegas. This program has a chance to take another huge step forward in 2025, and with Boise State leaving the conference in 2026, the Rebels have a clear path to running the Mountain West Conference for a long time, much like the Broncos have been doing. As long as this program stays the course, the future looks very bright for UNLV. It will be interesting to see how this team develops over the course of their next 14 spring practices.

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