Dan Mullen hires polarizing former Bulldog head coach to his UNLV staff

UNLV football made a hire that caught the eyes of Mississippi State fans earlier this month when they announced former Bulldog head coach Dan Mullen as the new leader of their program. Mullen is in the process of finalizing his staff in Las Vegas, and he's made a move that will garner even more attention from his old fanbase, hiring another former Bulldog coach to join him in the Mountain West.

Dan Mullen hires former Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Zach Arnett as UNLV's defensive coordinator

On Monday, UNLV officially announced the hire of former Mississippi State defensive coordinator and head coach Zach Arnett has the school's next defensive coordinator. A former Bulldogs coach in Dan Mullen will now have a former Bulldogs coach running his defense. It's a move to more familiar territory for Arnett, who grew up, played in, and began his coaching career in the western US.

Arnett spent four years in Starkville. Late head coach Mike Leach hired him as his defensive coordinator in 2020. In all three of his seasons working under The Pirate, Arnett's unit ranked in the top five in the SEC in total defense. Following Leach's tragic passing at the end of the 2022 season, Arnett was promoted to head coach.

Zach Arnett's head coaching debut was a memorable one, as he helped the Bulldogs honor Leach with a win in that ReliaQuest Bowl. But then things turned rocky. Arnett made the controversial decision to move away from Leach's Air Raid attack and chose to step away from calling the defense. MSU's 2023 offense was abysmal, and their defense slipped.

After suffering a 51-10 beatdown to Texas A&M to fall to 4-6 on the season, Arnett was fired, less than a year into his head coaching tenure. Though he had been beloved as a coordinator, Arnett's short time as head coach tanked his reputation in Starkville. He did himself no favors in the eyes of Bulldog fans by taking an analyst role with rival Ole Miss for the 2024 season.

Potentially bitter feelings aside, this pairing is likely to do very well in Las Vegas. Dan Mullen is one of the best offensive minds in the game, and outside of some salty Florida fans, no one would argue that he's not a good head coach. Zach Arnett, love him or hate him, is objectively a very good defensive coordinator. Going back to solely focusing on that side of the ball without having to attempt to run the whole program should put him back in his comfort zone.

UNLV's recent success, facilities, growing commitment to NIL, and attractive location already has them in position to be one of the better Group of 5 programs going forward. Pairing Mullen and Arnett together only makes it more likely that we see the Rebels win a bunch of games in the coming years.