Opened as a satellite campus in 1957, the southern regional division of the University of Nevada became Nevada Southern University in 1965 and finally evolved into UNLV four years later when the Board of Regents granted it autonomy under the state's higher education system.

Men's basketball was the first sport organized at UNLV, opening play in 1958 under head coach and athletic director Michael "Chub" Drakulich. Baseball, also coached by Drakulich, started in 1960 and football came to campus nearly a decade later when head coach Bill Ireland's squad went 8-1 in 1968. Women's club sports such as tennis emerged in 1960 under administrator Alice Mason but basketball became the first women's varsity sport in 1974. UNLV currently sponsors seven men's and eight women's athletic programs.