What this interview misses is that we've been talking to them since 2016. We were told back then bluntly without a meeting that we would not be considered for expansion. However a lot has changed since then. Its good that they considered us important enough to be worth the time to have a few days worth of talks with us. In my opinion, we aren't quite there yet; but we're trending in the right direction. The next 5 years are crucial for the program.
I personally don't believe we need to spend big12 athletics money until we're ready to move up. The more important number is NiL. That will allow us to stay competitive and to keep these big win years going.
As
@Bullmastiff 1 has mentioned, Harper could have easily taken a Rolovich at significant discount. I wouldn't have bat an eye if Rolovich became the coach. That would have been enough to show that Harper was "trying."
But Harper instead brought on Mullen, is paying Mullen well (its not too far below Big12 money, and Harper has demonstrated that he will give raises for performance), increased staff budgets, increased NiL, and began laying down the foundations for continuing to make UNLV successful.
