UNLV Football: Where can we go?

[1Tripoda]

With Coach Barry Odom, he is talking about National Championship. The first step, can we retain Coach Marion for the duration? How about Coach Scherer ...our DC? Can we keep Coach Odom at UNLV?

IMO, let play to the end of the season then figure it out. Marion will probably gone but I hope he stays because Karson Gordon is still committed to UNLV. He is Coach Marions's QB recruit. The kid runs 4.4 in 40yd The kid is balanced on the roll and throw a dart on while scrambling. He squared up.

 

[billd99s]

Early to conjecture about staff, OSU and WSU law suit still in progress. Big 12 ?, Gonzaga ?, does anyone at WSU think this will end well after Arizona game and remaining schedule. OSU has a great head coach. He may be poached from Big10 schools. Let's wait and see how the law suits settle out and TV networks get real on a deal for new Pac 10.

 

[Masked_rebel]

No, no to Pac- whatever the rebrand is... Big 12 or bust...

As for the rest, I don't see Marion leaving after 1 year. Odom has given him full control. A P4 coach isn't going to do the same, to much on the line.. and he's not jumping from UNLV to some G5 gig. He wants to prove his style works, and then climb to a P5 job..

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

With Coach Barry Odom, he is talking about National Championship. The first step, can we retain Coach Marion for the duration? How about Coach Scherer ...our DC? Can we keep Coach Odom at UNLV?

IMO, let play to the end of the season then figure it out. Marion will probably gone but I hope he stays because Karson Gordon is still committed to UNLV. He is Coach Marions's QB recruit. The kid runs 4.4 in 40yd The kid is balanced on the roll and throw a dart on while scrambling. He squared up.

Realistic expectations as a G5 school.

Become the next Boise State during their peak years. Get some national recognition as a strong program and a tough out for anybody. Score the occasional upset. In our case win MWC titles. Flirt with the top 25 year in and year out.

To become truly relevant it would take a P5 invite. Well soon to be P4..

You get that TV deal money, suddenly boosters and alumni get excited start making serious donations. Who knows..

Let's get bowl eligible this year first. And back it up again next year.

I think Odom will be here for minimum of two years. But that's contingent on what jobs open up.

Low end P5 job like Vandy or Northwestern opens not so sure he takes it. Mid tier job like a Missouri (I know he already coached there just an example) it probably depends on the money. Anything bigger than that I hope Harper bumped his contract and buyout because he's probably gone and I wouldn't blame him.

Marion likely done after this season. He's young likely won't get any HC offers yet but a P5 might throw a lot of money at him for an OC job and he can run that offense on a bigger stage.

 

[dcut03]

No, no to Pac- whatever the rebrand is... Big 12 or bust...

As for the rest, I don't see Marion leaving after 1 year. Odom has given him full control. A P4 coach isn't going to do the same, to much on the line.. and he's not jumping from UNLV to some G5 gig. He wants to prove his style works, and then climb to a P5 job..

Right now we can't say no to any sort of upgrade.

Big 12 probably isn't happening. Especially if the ACC starts to implode. They will have better options than UNLV.

The mostly likely is trying to create some sort of best of the G6 conference with some sort of PAC merger with some AAC additions.

 

[Masked_rebel]

It's not an upgrade. There will be no Pac whatever after this year. It's done. There won't be any money there. It's no better than the MW, actually could be worse if they try to add a bunch of teams and water down the $$ payouts for TV... they will lose all affiliations with bowl games, with name rights, with CFP... it's a dead conference at this point.

 

[Meister_Rebel]

Right now we can't say no to any sort of upgrade.

Big 12 probably isn't happening. Especially if the ACC starts to implode. They will have better options than UNLV.

The mostly likely is trying to create some sort of best of the G6 conference with some sort of PAC merger with some AAC additions.

I agree but caution about the AAC additions. G5/6 or whatever you want to call it doesn't bring in enough media money right now to warrant spending a lot of money on travel. Let's do something with OSU and WSU and then look at doing something with basketball only additions. The B12 wants to do something with basketball only but we need to beat them to it.

 

[dcut03]

It's not an upgrade. There will be no Pac whatever after this year. It's done. There won't be any money there. It's no better than the MW, actually could be worse if they try to add a bunch of teams and water down the $$ payouts for TV... they will lose all affiliations with bowl games, with name rights, with CFP... it's a dead conference at this point.

Simply adding OSU and WSU is an upgrade. Its not a power conference, but it does raise the value of the conference.

If it's Big 12 or bust, then we bust.

The only help from big boy inclusion if the power conferences completely try to separate from the NCAA to form a brand new league and they need a school or two to help round things out and we are left with our decent second tier market.

I thought that was going to happen, but with the addition of NIL the idea of players unionizing has pretty much gone away. It works out for the schools perfectly because players can be paid and they are not allowed to do so. Win win for them.

 

[bcvegaspt]

Marion likely done after this season. He's young likely won't get any HC offers yet but a P5 might throw a lot if money at him for an OC job and he can run that offense on a bigger stage.

I NEVER thought that I’d ultimately be happy that Petrino left us. Even though Marion is a one year rental, Petrino wasn’t even that.

 

[reagan21]

I NEVER thought that I’d ultimately be happy that Petrino left us. Even though Marion is a one year rental, Petrino wasn’t even that.

Petrino is the AirBNB of OCs

 

[WarthogRebel]

I NEVER thought that I’d ultimately be happy that Petrino left us. Even though Marion is a one year rental, Petrino wasn’t even that.

Guarantee him The HC job when Odom gets a nod from P4.

 

[j. spilotro]

Guarantee him The HC job when Odom gets a nod from P4.

Fine and dandy from an offensive standpoint, but if you gain that kind of momentum … do you go with somebody with no HC experience?

Is the offense bigger than the program?

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Fine and dandy from an offensive standpoint, but if you gain that kind of momentum … do you go with somebody with no HC experience?

Is the offense bigger than the program?

Man that's a tough call...

Again we are way ahead of ourselves but let's say a P4 comes calling after 2 years. Marion is probably already gone.

Do you hand the reigns over to the DC? He's an Odom disciple..

Odom did kinda fall into our lap a bit.

He actually wanted the job after seeing facility.

Not saying that couldn't happen again, but feels like things fell into place for UNLV.

 

[reagan21]

Man that's a tough call...

Again we are way ahead of ourselves but let's say a P4 comes calling after 2 years. Marion is probably already gone.

Do you hand the reigns over to the DC? He's an Odom disciple..

Odom did kinda fall into our lap a bit.

He actually wanted the job after seeing facility.

Not saying that couldn't happen again, but feels like things fell into place for UNLV.

If he’s winning at UNLV the market for potential HC replacements is immediately larger than before. I imagine there’s a buyout too.

Again, we’re getting WAY AHEAD OF OURSELVES. Why can’t we just enjoy getting our 5th win by mid October instead of the last week of the season?

 

[dcut03]

Man that's a tough call...

Again we are way ahead of ourselves but let's say a P4 comes calling after 2 years. Marion is probably already gone.

Do you hand the reigns over to the DC? He's an Odom disciple..

Odom did kinda fall into our lap a bit.

He actually wanted the job after seeing facility.

Not saying that couldn't happen again, but feels like things fell into place for UNLV.

Odom having success here will likely create more suitors than before his arrival. This job has been a black hole and a career killer.

Him proving that you can win and recruit well enough here erases some of that stigma. Plus it is always easier to take over a winning program vs a complete rebuild.

Not every player fits every schemes, and you will lose guys with new coaches, but there typically is a stronger foundation to build from. Odom is using a lot of Arroyo's guys at the starting position for instance.

 

[reagan21]

Odom is using a lot of Arroyo's guys at the starting position for instance.

so you’re saying Odom is better than Arroyo at coaching?

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

If he’s winning at UNLV the market for potential HC replacements is immediately larger than before. I imagine there’s a buyout too.

Again, we’re getting WAY AHEAD OF OURSELVES. Why can’t we just enjoy getting our 5th win by mid October instead of the last week of the season?

Well it's nice to be in week seven and saying we need just one more for bowl eligibility vs years past saying 'If we win 5 of last 6'..

 

[Rebel1986]

so you’re saying Odom is better than Arroyo at coaching?

I think so, but we will no for sure if he keeps winning and doesn't fall into the pit that we had for 6 of the last 7 games last year. One thing we do know for sure is that they don't need to wait until the last play of the game before beating unr!

 

[lobbybuu]

Marion has a personal reason as to why he will not leave this offseason. This would only change if there is a huge offer to a huge school.

 

[j. spilotro]

Man that's a tough call...

Again we are way ahead of ourselves but let's say a P4 comes calling after 2 years. Marion is probably already gone.

Do you hand the reigns over to the DC? He's an Odom disciple..

Odom did kinda fall into our lap a bit.

He actually wanted the job after seeing facility.

Not saying that couldn't happen again, but feels like things fell into place for UNLV.

But we also have to consider Harp’s track record. It’s very short. But his history would be “good hire” and got the money. So I do think that comes into play as well. If DRF or TKM are at the head, you wonder what dose of death they’d come up with next.

 

[dcut03]

so you’re saying Odom is better than Arroyo at coaching?

If we want to be objective, the difference is the Vandy game. Similar to the Cal game last year. Both schedules were very weak with the wins that they had.

Odom's team look a whole helluva lot better that's for sure. Also we are improving as the year is going on, not peaking in our warm up game.

Arroyo did lose to bad teams too, we haven't this season.


That's it. It has been settled. Odom is officially better

 

[UNLVINMD]

Let season play out, my geez last yr people wanted Arroyo to get extension.

But having competent staff is new at UNLV, it be nice to have 30k plus on Saturday!

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

If we want to be objective, the difference is the Vandy game. Similar to the Cal game last year. Both schedules were very weak with the wins that they had.

Odom's team look a whole helluva lot better that's for sure. Also we are improving as the year is going on, not peaking in our warm up game.

Arroyo did lose to bad teams too, we haven't this season.


That's it. It has been settled. Odom is officially better

Honestly it's pretty clear.

Offensively there are constantly new wrinkles each week.

Defensively the Rebs were really good for four or five weeks last season. They were better than this year in points allowed and yards. However as season wore on they just got stagnant.

This year, despite concerning yardage totals and to some degree points allowed, this defense is far more disruptive.

Underlying metrics like sacks/TFL/turnovers/3rd down efficiency are considerably better. They are getting the ball back to the offense a lot and a lot of times with short fields. Offense has rewarded that by putting points on the board. Rebs have had some pretty comfortable leads so a lot (not all) of the yards they are giving up are in what amounts to garbage time or teams chasing double digit leads.

Definitely want to tighten up the secondary. But I think the defense is also better coached as well.

 

[j. spilotro]

Honestly it's pretty clear.

Offensively there are constantly new wrinkles each week.

Defensively the Rebs were really good for four or five weeks last season. They were better than this year in points allowed and yards. However as season wore on they just got stagnant.

This year, despite concerning yardage totals and to some degree points allowed, this defense is far more disruptive.

Underlying metrics like sacks/TFL/turnovers/3rd down efficiency are considerably better. They are getting the ball back to the offense a lot and a lot of times with short fields. Offense has rewarded that by putting points on the board. Rebs have had some pretty comfortable leads so a lot (not all) of the yards they are giving up are in what amounts to garbage time or teams chasing double digit leads.

Definitely want to tighten up the secondary. But I think the defense is also better coached as well.

The plus 9 turnovers has been really nice. And I don’t know what it’s been over the last several years, but I suspect we were very poor previously.

Eyeball wise, I don’t think it’s close. As you said, we have improved across the board, even with the areas where we aren’t strong.

What is not to like right now? Seriously?

 

[WarthogRebel]

Odom having success here will likely create more suitors than before his arrival. This job has been a black hole and a career killer.

Him proving that you can win and recruit well enough here erases some of that stigma. Plus it is always easier to take over a winning program vs a complete rebuild.

Not every player fits every schemes, and you will lose guys with new coaches, but there typically is a stronger foundation to build from. Odom is using a lot of Arroyo's guys at the starting position for instance.

"Odom having success here will likely create more suitors than before his arrival."

I agree. But moving up from G5 to P4 is, to some degree, a numbers game. Each year there are 12-15 HC openings in P4. About 1/3 of those go to previous Professional coaches and upgraded assistants. So we are looking at 9-10 positions for G5 coaches. Doing well here would be a big plus. But the big minus for Odom is he failed at a P4 program. Yes, coaches do get two or three bites at the apple for P4, but they almost always showed success at their first P4 HC job. It's not very often that someone does poorly at their first P4 HC job and is brought back again.

I think we are safe with Odom until he shows he can win the conference. ( Of course all bets are off if he has a close relationship with a new AD and he gets moved up that way).

 

[220reb]

It's funny I asked this question three weeks ago. " Do you believe"
I think coach Odom is making the whole city believe.

 

[ckfitz]

It's funny I asked this question three weeks ago. " Do you believe"
I think coach Odom is making the whole city believe.

A lot of great publicity from the media.

 

[dcut03]

"Odom having success here will likely create more suitors than before his arrival."

I agree. But moving up from G5 to P4 is, to some degree, a numbers game. Each year there are 12-15 HC openings in P4. About 1/3 of those go to previous Professional coaches and upgraded assistants. So we are looking at 9-10 positions for G5 coaches. Doing well here would be a big plus. But the big minus for Odom is he failed at a P4 program. Yes, coaches do get two or three bites at the apple for P4, but they almost always showed success at their first P4 HC job. It's not very often that someone does poorly at their first P4 HC job and is brought back again.

I think we are safe with Odom until he shows he can win the conference. ( Of course all bets are off if he has a close relationship with a new AD and he gets moved up that way).

I agree. There will be hotter names out there than Odom. Though it is worth mentioning that Odom did not fail miserably at Mizzou. He played in a brutal conference and did ok. He is also generally well liked. Then followed up as a good DC in that league.
So I think that will elevate him over other g5 coaches. But he will be second tier candidate over some of the other types of candidates that you mentioned.
It is also worth looking at what coaches accomplished that moved up from the mountain west to a power school. Pretty remarkable things. Again I think Odom wouldn't have as high of a bar since he is somewhat vetted, but still

 

[1Tripoda]

A lot of great publicity from the media.

A lot of people are catching the fever. People are going Loco. lol
30-40K this Saturday at Allegiant?

 

[dcut03]

A lot of people are catching the fever. People are going Loco. lol
30-40K this Saturday at Allegiant?

I sure hope so but I doubt it. It would be awesome if they crack 30k, but I'm guessing upper 20's.
Which brings me to the question. Does the late start on a Saturday help or hurt attendance?
What does everyone think? Part of me thinks it hurts, but it could help if it were a huge game. Like to determine a seat in the title game for instance.

 

[WarthogRebel]

A lot of people are catching the fever. People are going Loco. lol
30-40K this Saturday at Allegiant?

I believe even 30,000 is a dream. We got 25,300 for the Hawaii game and Hawaii brings out loads of fans. 30,000 would be a 20% increase from that game. IMO, it will take a couple of years of big success to break 30000. I don't understand it, but I guess when you factor in our past, coupled with the fact that a load of people in town are from somewhere else it makes some sense.

 

[1Tripoda]

I sure hope so but I doubt it. It would be awesome if they crack 30k, but I'm guessing upper 20's.
Which brings me to the question. Does the late start on a Saturday help or hurt attendance?
What does everyone think? Part of me thinks it hurts, but it could help if it were a huge game. Like to determine a seat in the title game for instance.

I think it will help attendance but hurts TV's viewerships.

 

[1Tripoda]

I believe even 30,000 is a dream. We got 25,300 for the Hawaii game and Hawaii brings out loads of fans. 30,000 would be a 20% increase from that game. IMO, it will take a couple of years of big success to break 30000. I don't understand it, but I guess when you factor in our past, coupled with the fact that a load of people in town are from somewhere else it makes some sense.

Dont look at that way. People will show up to watch superhuman. UNLV have not had a player that is superhuman. Our basketball teams had had many these Demi-gods: JR Rider, Larry Johnson, Shawn Marion, Stacey Augmon, Keon Clark. The emergence of Rickie White will help attendance. Guys like Jayden Maiava, Jackson Woodward, Donavyn Lester, Jet Thomas are all good contribution to the allure. Coach Marion's Go Go offence have draw curiosity.

 

[lvrebalum2012]

I sure hope so but I doubt it. It would be awesome if they crack 30k, but I'm guessing upper 20's.
Which brings me to the question. Does the late start on a Saturday help or hurt attendance?
What does everyone think? Part of me thinks it hurts, but it could help if it were a huge game. Like to determine a seat in the title game for instance.

Not sure I’d consider a 4pm start time as being late. This could be the prime time to have a game start. Not too early and not too late where kids will be out too late (game should be over by 7:30).

I’d consider the WYO game as late (7:45pm). And it’s on a Friday.

 

[reagan21]

If we want to be objective, the difference is the Vandy game. Similar to the Cal game last year. Both schedules were very weak with the wins that they had.

Odom's team look a whole helluva lot better that's for sure. Also we are improving as the year is going on, not peaking in our warm up game.

Arroyo did lose to bad teams too, we haven't this season.


That's it. It has been settled. Odom is officially better

I was joking. It’s pretty obvious who the better coach is.

 

[dcut03]

Not sure I’d consider a 4pm start time as being late. This could be the prime time to have a game start. Not too early and not too late where kids will be out too late (game should be over by 7:30).

I’d consider the WYO game as late (7:45pm). And it’s on a Friday.

Is it 4? My bad. I think I got it confused with the Fresno state game (on the road) that will be 7:30.

The Wyoming game makes a little more sense on a Friday. Probably for TV too.

 

[dcut03]

I was joking. It’s pretty obvious who the better coach is.

I was kind of trying to joke and be serious at the same time. Not a good move, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Rebel1986]

It appears to be UNLV that is their own worst enemy in regards to football ticket sales. When they were selling season tickets they held out large portions of the visitor side like they had already been sold. I also noticed that a large number of seats showed back up that they had listed as already gone for the CSU game. I have noticed this over the last couple of years, and it really doesn't do anything positive towards sales. I think UNLV is going to be very lucky to even come close to the 25K+ they sold for the Hawaii game.

UNLV needs to make an all out effort to get more people to the game by locating on there site where fans or possible future fans can go park away from the stadium, there are numerous much cheaper parking areas that are within a short walk of the stadium that they ignore while listing the off stadium parking that is run by the same people.

They also need to find a way to set up tailgate areas at a reasonable price to attract more fans. Maybe find parking areas that are within walking distance where fans can set up a tailgate while only paying $20 for a car instead of $100.

What other ways do others on this site think they can increase attendance?

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

It appears to be UNLV that is their own worst enemy in regards to football ticket sales. When they were selling season tickets they held out large portions of the visitor side like they had already been sold. I also noticed that a large number of seats showed back up that they had listed as already gone for the CSU game. I have noticed this over the last couple of years, and it really doesn't do anything positive towards sales. I think UNLV is going to be very lucky to even come close to the 25K+ they sold for the Hawaii game.

UNLV needs to make an all out effort to get more people to the game by locating on there site where fans or possible future fans can go park away from the stadium, there are numerous much cheaper parking areas that are within a short walk of the stadium that they ignore while listing the off stadium parking that is run by the same people.

They also need to find a way to set up tailgate areas at a reasonable price to attract more fans. Maybe find parking areas that are within walking distance where fans can set up a tailgate while only paying $20 for a car instead of $100.

What other ways do others on this site think they can increase attendance?

Like they had at Sam Boyd

 

[Rod_the_Rebel]

My guess is around 23-25k