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Facilities played a large role in Mullins decision.....

TimothyC3

TimothyC3

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May 29, 2001
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From CDM.....

"Mullen first became impressed with UNLV while in Las Vegas in 2023 to attend former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's College Football Hall of Fame induction. He couldn't believe the $35 million Fertitta Football Complex that opened in 2019 and knew the Rebels spent gamedays at an NFL stadium.

“This (practice) facility was so much better than anything I had when I took the Mississippi State job,” Mullen said. “I had to build the facility there. Florida had nothing like this. Not even close to this.”

www.thescore.com

Mullen: Facilities played large role in decision to join UNLV

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dan Mullen could've returned to coaching sooner, but the timing never seemed right and, regardless, he was fine remaining at ESPN giving his insights about the latest in college football. But when coach Barry Odom, fresh off taking UNLV to back-to-back appearances in the...
www.thescore.com www.thescore.com
 
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Interesting with some of these interviews, Meyer basically said that Mullen was the defacto OC at Bowling Green and Utah, but was too young for that title. Sanford had that title, and apparently "developed that offense with Meyer".

I wonder where the truth really is. It is possible that Meyer is talking up his buddy to some degree.

I thought Sanford's offenses were pretty good here. Defense was the issue. And the locker rooms of course ;)
 
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rebel5280 said:
Sanford was right about the facilities situation here back then but he was the wrong guy for UNLV football!
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The lockerroom thing was a half-truth. Our facilities back then were shit, but were mostly on par with other programs in our league at the time outside of maybe Utah, BYU and TCU. Reno, Fresno etc. had no problem fielding good programs with similar shitty facilities. The locker rooms didn't keep us from winning 7-8 games/year instead of 1-2 games a year. Also, the whole FCS office thing was a total joke that has no place as part of a college football program. You want to worship the Jesus, do it on your own time separately.
 
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TimothyC3 said:
You can't forget Ron Meyers and Harvey Hyde....
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Different circumstances, they weren’t in a conference battling YBU, Utah and TCU. 3 guaranteed losses, plus tough OOC schedules like Iowa State and ranked Arizona State, Oregon State. I think Sanford lost to Oregon State, #14 by 2-3 points.
 
Rosegreen1 said:
Sanford was the best HC UNLV has had outside of JRob and Odom. Still the last coach to beat a T25 team.
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He could not win here and the facilities were a reason not to be bowl eligible?

The top 25 win, what did he do with it, not a thing, no momentum at all. That win was like back when Rice beat top ranked UNC but crapped the bed come MWC time.

Losing close is still losing!

It’s called football, not horseshoes, so who cares about close losses!
 
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RebelinWA said:
Like him or hate him, Sanford was right. I might not have agreed with his delivery, but he was 1000% right.
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I've said this for years and was ridiculed a bunch for stating this. Sanford was not wrong. He realized that the facilities were in fact holding the program back. It wasn't an excuse. It was reality. Fans just didn't want to hear it. Amazing how quickly this program has turned around once we got top notch facilities.
 
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Poster17 said:
I've said this for years and was ridiculed a bunch for stating this. Sanford was not wrong. He realized that the facilities were in fact holding the program back. It wasn't an excuse. It was reality. Fans just didn't want to hear it. Amazing how quickly this program has turned around once we got top notch facilities.
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John Robinson said essentially the same.
 
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RebelinWA said:
Like him or hate him, Sanford was right. I might not have agreed with his delivery, but he was 1000% right.
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I was getting my worthless degree the 2nd time around when he was head coach. I was walking my dogs on my mountain bike going around the campus and I waved at the guy and overtook him wearing my Ichinutz Seattle JerseyWhile he was strolling on campus.

I didn’t necessarily hate him but was hoping he’d bring that gimmick offense with him that Urban invented.. I forgot what it’s called. Instead we got a ton of zone reads from Omar Clayton.

Tell you what the Ames Stumble was freakin’ GREAT!!

F’n hate those cornbread Jeds
 
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The facilities excuse was and always will be complete horseshit. You guys obviously never saw the facilities that other teams in our conference was working with, while they were busy winning games and fielding winning programs. You ever seen Reno's old lockerrooms? Jack Murphy was a fugging dump and SDSU had crap facilities. You ever walked through the sewer that is the Fresneck stadium? Didn't stop them from winning games. At the end of the day, Sam Boyd wasn't even in the bottom 10 of stadiums I have been to.

Whatever makes you feel better, I guess. We just made bad hires. End of story.
 
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InZoneU said:
The facilities excuse was and always will be complete horseshit. You guys obviously never saw the facilities that other teams in our conference was working with, while they were busy winning games and fielding winning programs. You ever seen Reno's old lockerrooms? Jack Murphy was a fugging dump and SDSU had crap facilities. You ever walked through the sewer that is the Fresneck stadium? Didn't stop them from winning games. At the end of the day, Sam Boyd wasn't even in the bottom 10 of stadiums I have been to.

Whatever makes you feel better, I guess. We just made bad hires. End of story.
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Definitely agree with this!
 
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InZoneU said:
The facilities excuse was and always will be complete horseshit. You guys obviously never saw the facilities that other teams in our conference was working with, while they were busy winning games and fielding winning programs. You ever seen Reno's old lockerrooms? Jack Murphy was a fugging dump and SDSU had crap facilities. You ever walked through the sewer that is the Fresneck stadium? Didn't stop them from winning games. At the end of the day, Sam Boyd wasn't even in the bottom 10 of stadiums I have been to.

Whatever makes you feel better, I guess. We just made bad hires. End of story.
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Sam Boyd is actually pretty nice compared to the vast majority of college stadiums, at least the ones I have been to. I cannot speak to the locker rooms, but the building itself wasn't a problem.

The location was a bit of a problem, but that is still a somewhat weak excuse. "fans" wanted to use any excuse to NOT support the Rebels. The perception of going to a game in a potentially empty stadium isn't cool enough for our higher than average fair weather fanbase.
 
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dcut03 said:
Sam Boyd is actually pretty nice compared to the vast majority of college stadiums, at least the ones I have been to. I cannot speak to the locker rooms, but the building itself wasn't a problem.

The location was a bit of a problem, but that is still a somewhat weak excuse. "fans" wanted to use any excuse to NOT support the Rebels. The perception of going to a game in a potentially empty stadium isn't cool enough for our higher than average fair weather fanbase.
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Sam Boyd had one of the best tailgating areas in college football. Our group had two lots, and there was plenty of space for everything and elaborate tailgate set ups with 30-40 people. I loved being able to walk around the grass barefoot. There was plenty of space to throw a football around without getting hit by a golfcart. I legitimately miss Sam Boyd, though my best memories are tailgating.

That being said, I don’t trade in Allegiant. I just wish that we could replicate the star nursery field experience.
 
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dcut03 said:
Sam Boyd is actually pretty nice compared to the vast majority of college stadiums, at least the ones I have been to. I cannot speak to the locker rooms, but the building itself wasn't a problem.

The location was a bit of a problem, but that is still a somewhat weak excuse. "fans" wanted to use any excuse to NOT support the Rebels. The perception of going to a game in a potentially empty stadium isn't cool enough for our higher than average fair weather fanbase.
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Worked at UNLV FB for 5 years and traveled to all MWC opponents and post TCU/Utah/BYU (though I did travel to BYU with the team in 201...2?13?)

Sam Boyd was a top 3 MWC stadium. Honestly it might have been the best one. The biggest thing it lacked was a program worth watching to the average fan. I don't think people realize that basically every team in MWC has a stadium with amenities closer to Utah Tech's stadium than Sam Boyd.

If UNLV had been .500 on average and occasionally .750+, the folks who whined loudest about SBS being too far or the gravel lot as reasons for not attending games would have had nothing to say.

dcut, you nailed it. Some folks will use any excuse on the table.


SBS was a nicer stadium than some Pac 12, Big Ten, and SEC stadiums. Just bad atmosphere for an uncompetitive team.
 
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LocoRebel said:
Worked at UNLV FB for 5 years and traveled to all MWC opponents and post TCU/Utah/BYU (though I did travel to BYU with the team in 201...2?13?)

Sam Boyd was a top 3 MWC stadium. Honestly it might have been the best one. The biggest thing it lacked was a program worth watching to the average fan. I don't think people realize that basically every team in MWC has a stadium with amenities closer to Utah Tech's stadium than Sam Boyd.

If UNLV had been .500 on average and occasionally .750+, the folks who whined loudest about SBS being too far or the gravel lot as reasons for not attending games would have had nothing to say.

dcut, you nailed it. Some folks will use any excuse on the table.


SBS was a nicer stadium than some Pac 12, Big Ten, and SEC stadiums. Just bad atmosphere for an uncompetitive team.
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Devil's advocate:

SBS was never getting compared to other MWC football stadiums. It was being compared to the Thomas and Mack, MGM Grand, for a while T-Mobile, all the showrooms and theatres in our hotel/casinos, Orleans (which make no mistake is a wonderful facilities, just small), etc. If it had been compared 1:1 to old CSU stadium, SJSU, UNM, Wyo, Fresno, Reno, Aloha Stadium, Bronco Stadium even... people would hold it in higher regard I think.
 
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LocoRebel said:
Devil's advocate:

SBS was never getting compared to other MWC football stadiums. It was being compared to the Thomas and Mack, MGM Grand, for a while T-Mobile, all the showrooms and theatres in our hotel/casinos, Orleans (which make no mistake is a wonderful facilities, just small), etc. If it had been compared 1:1 to old CSU stadium, SJSU, UNM, Wyo, Fresno, Reno, Aloha Stadium, Bronco Stadium even... people would hold it in higher regard I think.
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I agree to a extent, and Allegiant fixed all of those issues. State of the art facility in a central location.

Yet fans still took a while to show up, complained about parking or other things.
 
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RebelinWA said:
Sam Boyd had one of the best tailgating areas in college football. Our group had two lots, and there was plenty of space for everything and elaborate tailgate set ups with 30-40 people. I loved being able to walk around the grass barefoot. There was plenty of space to throw a football around without getting hit by a golfcart. I legitimately miss Sam Boyd, though my best memories are tailgating.

That being said, I don’t trade in Allegiant. I just wish that we could replicate the star nursery field experience.
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The only way that would happen is either they would need to build a park near the stadium, or an alumni or booster would need to buy a piece of land near the stadium and build a tailgate area for the games. Neither is likely, but you can always wish!
 
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dcut03 said:
I agree to a extent, and Allegiant fixed all of those issues. State of the art facility in a central location.

Yet fans still took a while to show up, complained about parking or other things.
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Outside the first year you double the cost of tickets and 3x+ concessions. It would take winning to get past those incursions anywhere in G5
 
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LocoRebel said:
Outside the first year you double the cost of tickets and 3x+ concessions. It would take winning to get past those incursions anywhere in G5
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Concessions? yes. Tickets? My dad's awesome seats *(he actually got upgraded a little bit from Sam Boyd) Rose 26% by the second year in Allegiant.

Not quite double.

I get it, a bit more expensive, but still excuses. Especially when you look at the cost of Knights and Raiders games.
 
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dcut03 said:
Concessions? yes. Tickets? My dad's awesome seats *(he actually got upgraded a little bit from Sam Boyd) Rose 26% by the second year in Allegiant.

Not quite double.

I get it, a bit more expensive, but still excuses. Especially when you look at the cost of Knights and Raiders games.
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My first and last year of appx 10 yard line seats at SBS was between $100-140 per seat per year. Same seats, i just paid $375 per seat and $200 for on site parking in November (I know, that's easily lessened by parking in satellite lots, other side of the bridge, or 3rd party $15-20 lots nearby. Which i did for 2-3 seasons at Allegiant)


Nonetheless, i agree it is excuses. At some point youre truly in as a fan or not. Calculations should consider attendance, tv ratings, local visibility (merch), and probably other things im not considering
 
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LocoRebel said:
My first and last year of appx 10 yard line seats at SBS was between $100-140 per seat per year. Same seats, i just paid $375 per seat and $200 for on site parking in November (I know, that's easily lessened by parking in satellite lots, other side of the bridge, or 3rd party $15-20 lots nearby. Which i did for 2-3 seasons at Allegiant)


Nonetheless, i agree it is excuses. At some point youre truly in as a fan or not. Calculations should consider attendance, tv ratings, local visibility (merch), and probably other things im not considering
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Las Vegas is a bit strange. IF we make it to the big12, it might not matter. We don’t necessarily have to fill up our stadium. The other team can do that for us. While its nice to have a full stadium of Rebel fans, I am alright with a 40-60ish split. It doesn’t help us for viewership, but if the product on the field is compelling, the traveling team and random viewers could swing the ratings.

Partner with Allegiant/ the NFL/ the big12/ a casino chain/ convention authority to create a bundle that gives ncaa teams with nfl teams a “Vegas sports weekend”.

Flight, transportation, hotel, meal pass, Saturday afternoon Rebel game followed by a Sunday NFL game. Customize it if you want an add on day pre and/or post trip, or a hockey/baseball/soccer game. Throw in an excursion to tour the stadium or something.
 
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LocoRebel said:
Worked at UNLV FB for 5 years and traveled to all MWC opponents and post TCU/Utah/BYU (though I did travel to BYU with the team in 201...2?13?)

Sam Boyd was a top 3 MWC stadium. Honestly it might have been the best one. The biggest thing it lacked was a program worth watching to the average fan. I don't think people realize that basically every team in MWC has a stadium with amenities closer to Utah Tech's stadium than Sam Boyd.

If UNLV had been .500 on average and occasionally .750+, the folks who whined loudest about SBS being too far or the gravel lot as reasons for not attending games would have had nothing to say.

dcut, you nailed it. Some folks will use any excuse on the table.


SBS was a nicer stadium than some Pac 12, Big Ten, and SEC stadiums. Just bad atmosphere for an uncompetitive team.
Click to expand...
I hated Sam Boyd if for no other reason than cement combined with 110 degree temperatures in late Aug/early Sept made for the most uncomfortable stadium I have ever been to.
 
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