UNLV Director of Athletics Flip Flops on Dan Mullen's Contract

After originally stating the University can only afford two of the five year contract signed by the team's football coach, the school has now walked back that statement.

UNLV new football head coach Dan Mullen signed a five-year, $17.5 million contract. | Brad McClenny / USA TODAY NETWORK

UNLV Rebels director of athletics Erick Harper raised some eyebrows last week when he told the Board of Regents and his entire athletic department that they only have the funds to pay for the first two years of new football coach Dan Mullen’s five-year, $17.5 million contract. The school is now walking that back, saying that Harper simply misspoke at the meeting and didn't have all the information at hand. The school has since released a statement, saying:

“UNLV athletics can fulfill all of its coaching contracts. To clarify, multiple funding sources cover the costs of all athletics department salaries, including revenues (ticket sales, multi-media rights, etc.), philanthropy, conference revenue distributions, and direct and indirect institutional support.”

Coach bringing the energy 🔥 @GoldenKnights | @CoachDanMullen pic.twitter.com/WitAZUYJID

— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) March 10, 2025

Hopefully, this statement is accurate, and funding is now a non-issue for UNLV. Only time will tell, but for now it's time to stop panicking. It doesn't look like we'll be getting any input from the Mountain West Conference either after the Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez made it clear she didn't plan on discussing the matter of budget issues with school officials. She also sent a text that simply said, “We rarely get into individual school finances. Every school is different.” 

Unless something changes, this should now be considered little more than an afterthought of someone misspeaking and is a non-issue for the UNLV athletic department, Athletic Director Harper, the school as a whole, or the Mountain West. These issues were supposed to have been remedied by the recent new deal they signed with the Mountain West and it looks like that is in fact, the case.

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