Dan Mullen Reunites With Trusted Ally Lee Davis To Help Lead UNLV Football

New UNLV head coach Dan Mullen brought longtime confidante Lee Davis on as chief of staff, leaning on their history and her steady leadership to help build his program from day one.

The UNLV Rebels celebrate after defeating the California Golden Bears in the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

This offseason, after the UNLV Rebels hired new head coach Dan Mullen to replace the exiting Barry Odom, he had to fill out his staff. One of his most important hires was his chief of staff. Mullen decided to go with a familiar face in Lee Davis.

The two have worked together time and time again at past jobs. He gave Davis her first job after she completed grad school at Alabama, hiring her as a recruiting assistant at Mississippi State. She stuck around at Mississippi State with him until he was hired to take over the head coaching job for the Florida Gators where she became the director of recruiting operations.

The two have a loyalty to each other he clearly has a strong belief in her. She also believes in him and strongly defended Mullen when a response to a question about recruiting garnered harsh criticism during their time in Gainesville, when he said he didn't want to speak about recruiting in season: 

"I've worked at two other places since I've left him,” Davis said. “I know nobody works harder at recruiting than he does. ... What he was trying to say -- he wanted to talk football that day and didn't want to talk about recruiting, but people took it as he doesn't recruit."

When Mullen was overwhelmed after taking the UNLV job, Davis was the calming voice of reason for him:

"He was overwhelmed. And I'm like, 'Hey, listen, you have two things you got to do right now. You need to hire staff, but you need to hire the right people, because you want a good staff, a staff that fits. And then two, you got to find a quarterback, because that's the most important. You're not going to win without a great quarterback."

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