Dan Mullen and Bret Bielema share some unique history and, just maybe, they aren’t done facing one another.
Between 2013-17, Mullen was the head coach at Mississippi State and Bielema was the head coach at Arkansas. Mullen started his head coaching tenure in Starkville in 2009, and he followed his time there with a 4-year run at Florida between 2018-21.
And even though the 2 coaches have long since left the SEC, those old ties die hard. Bielema is now in his 5th season at Illinois, while Mullen is entering his 1st year at faraway UNLV after dabbling as a college football analyst for ESPN.
So, 1 might ask, how would the coaches at Illinois and UNLV possibly still have a connection?
Well, Big Ten Media Days just happens to be in Las Vegas this week, and so Bielema held court with reporters there. During his time at the podium, the 55-year-old revealed that Las Vegas means a little more to him than just being, well, Las Vegas. He told reporters that Vegas “holds a special place in my heart” because that’s where he met his wife, back in 2008 at the Wynn Casino.
“We don’t need any more story to that than that,” joked Bielema.
Well, Mullen just happens to be the head coach at the big local school now, and he caught wind of Bielema’s comment.
“Let’s get a home-and-home (series) going for an anniversary trip,” wrote Mullen on his social media account, making sure to tag Bielema.
Here is the fun but very real exchange between the old SEC foes:
Time will tell, of course, if Illinois and UNLV can actually make this happen, and schedules are done years in advance.
But, just maybe, Bielema will have another reason to come to Las Vegas down the road.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
