UNLV admits it can only afford first two years of new coach Dan Mullen’s $17.5 million contract

UNLV athletic director Erick Harper admitted that the school can only afford to pay the first two years of new football coach Dan Mullen’s five-year, $17.5 million contract.

Harper made the admission at a Board of Regents meeting last week, telling the group that the athletic department is in at least $26 million worth of debt and could only afford the first two years of a contract that pays the former Florida coach $3.5 million annually.

“We have the funds to pay the coach over the next two years,” Harper said. “We have been working with our donors to assist with philanthropic dollars. We have one that has already paid their commitment, and that money is in an unrestricted line and that will be utilized in the future to help with the salaries.”

UNLV hired Mullen in December to replace Barry Odom, who left for Purdue. The Big Ten school will pay UNLV $3 million to buy out Odom’s contract, slated to arrive in two $1.5 million payments paid over the next two years. Mullen hadn’t coached since 2021, instead working as an analyst for ESPN, after a four-year stint at Florida where he finished with a 34-15 record that included three top-15 finishes. 

Mullen’s contract also calls for an annual $100,000 retention bonus starting in 2027 and bonuses ranging from $25,000 for playing in the Mountain West championship game to $100,000 for participating in the College Football Playoff. Making any bowl game comes with a $75,000 bonus. 

Mullen takes over a UNLV program that went 10-3 last season and is considered a preseason Group of Five favorite to make the College Football Playoff. Harper said that UNLV has sold an additional 970 season tickets since Mullen’s hiring, putting the total at more than 5,000 for the Mountain West school. 

Harper’s admission the school can only afford two years of Mullen’s five-year contract is arresting yet not without precedent. When Colorado hired Deion Sanders to a five-year, $29.5 million contract, the school’s AD made a similar comment as Harper.

“We don’t have the money yet, but I know we’ll have it so I’m not worried about that piece,” Colorado AD Rick George said after Sanders’ hiring. 

The hiring of Sanders, of course, became a financial boon for Colorado as CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello detailed last year. 

UNLV’s big bet on Mullen is indicative of the challenges smaller schools face in this current environment of ever-growing expenses. With Power Four schools set to spend as much as $20.5 million on revenue sharing starting this year if the House settlement is officially approved, schools have the choice to either try to keep up in spending or risk falling behind. 

It feels like UNLV senses an opportunity to capitalize on the Group of Five’s path to the College Football Playoff and is spending accordingly. Paying Mullen $3.5 million annually is a significant financial commitment at that level, and puts him above Power Four coaches such as UCLA’s DeShaun Foster and Arizona’s Brent Brennan. If it doesn’t pan out, that massive amount of debt Harper detailed to the Board of Regents may only grow.