The college football coaching carousel is constantly spinning this time of year, but Monday’s report from Andy Yamashita of the Las Vegas Review-Journal certainly turned some heads when he wrote Ed Orgeron and Chris Petersen “might be in the running” for the vacant UNLV job.
Hours later, though, it appears that might not necessarily be the case.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported later in the day that neither Orgeron nor Petersen were attached to the job, with Orgeron having “no interest” and Petersen described as not being a “real candidate” for the position.
Orgeron famously led LSU to the national championship in 2019 and was previously the head coach at Ole Miss and interim head coach and assistant at USC. He and LSU mutually parted ways following the ’21 campaign, with the Tigers finishing the year at 6–6.
Petersen hasn’t coached since 2019 after a successful six-year stint at Washington. With the Huskies, he won two Pac-12 championships and guided the team to the College Football Playoff in ’16. Prior to that, he led Boise State in becoming a Group of Five powerhouse, leading the Broncos to four top-10 finishes in the AP poll across eight seasons. After stepping down following the ’19 season, he joined Fox Sports as a college football analyst.
UNLV went 5–7 in 2022 under Marcus Arroyo, who was fired in November after three seasons. The program has posted just one winning record over the past 22 years.
