UNLV Football Hires Former Missouri Coach Barry Odom

Odom has spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Arkansas.

UNLV announced on Tuesday that it has found its next football coach with the hire of former Missouri head coach Barry Odom. Odom will be formally introduced in a press conference Wednesday morning.

Odom arrives in Las Vegas after a three-year stint as the defensive coordinator and associate head coach at Arkansas. Previously, he spent four years as the head coach at Missouri, posting a 25-25 record from 2016 to ’19, peaking with an 8-5 mark in ’18.

On Monday, a report surfaced that linked former LSU coach Ed Orgeron and former Boise State and Washington coach Chris Petersen to the UNLV job. That report was later refuted by Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.

The UNLV job became available after the firing of Marcus Arroyo, who guided the program to a 5-7 record in 2022, his third season with the Rebels. The program has not posted a winning record since 2013. The Rebels’ five wins last season were their most since ’17, and they have topped that number just once in the past 19 seasons.