List of UNLV Rebels head football coaches

Barry Odom in a t-shirt and hat.
Barry Odom was the head coach of the Rebels from 2023-2024.

The UNLV Rebels college football team represents the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the Mountain West Conference (MW). The Rebels compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 13 head coaches since it began play during the 1968 season. Since December 2022, Barry Odom has served as head coach at UNLV.[1]

Six coaches have led UNLV in playoff or postseason bowl games: Tony Knap, Harvey Hyde, Jeff Horton, John Robinson, Bobby Hauck, and Barry Odom. Two of those coaches also won conference championships: Hyde captured one as a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association; and Horton captured one as a member of the Big West Conference.

Knap and Robinson are the leaders in seasons coached with six years as head coach each. Knap is the leader in games won with 47. Ron Meyer has the highest winning percentage at 0.771. Hyde has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.185. Of the 13 different head coaches who have led the Rebels, Robinson has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Bill Ireland 1968–1972 50 26 23 1 0.530 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Ron Meyer 1973–1975 35 27 8 0 0.771 — — — — — — — — — —
3 Tony Knap 1976–1981 69 47 20 2 0.696 — — — — 0 1 0 0 — —
4 Harvey Hyde
[A 6] 		1982–1985 46 8 37 1 0.185 5 19 1 0.220 0 1 0 1 — —
5 Wayne Nunnely 1986–1989 44 19 25 0 0.432 13 15 0 0.464 0 0 0 0 — —
6 Jim Strong 1990–1993 44 17 27 0 0.386 10 16 0 0.385 0 0 0 0 — —
7 Jeff Horton 1994–1998 57 13 44 0 0.228 9 30 0 0.231 1 0 0 1 — —
8 John Robinson† 1999–2004 70 28 42 — 0.400 14 28 — 0.333 1 0 — 0 — —
9 Mike Sanford Sr. 2005–2009 59 16 43 — 0.271 8 32 — 0.200 0 0 — 0 — —
10 Bobby Hauck 2010–2014 64 15 49 — 0.234 11 28 — 0.282 0 1 — 0 — —
11 Tony Sanchez 2015–2019 60 20 40 — 0.333 13 27 — 0.325 0 0 — 0 — —
12 Marcus Arroyo 2020–2022 30 7 23 — 0.233 5 17 — 0.227 0 0 — 0 — —
13 Barry Odom 2023–2024 27 19 8 — 0.704 12 3 — 0.800 0 1 — 0 — —

Notes

  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ The 1983 and 1984 seasons, including the 1984 California Bowl, forfeited due to ineligible players. The on-field record for 1983 was 7–4 (4–2 PCAA); 1984 was 11–2 (7–0 PCAA).

References

  1. ^ "UNLV hires Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom as coach". ESPN.com. December 6, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.