UNLV Football: Barry Odom Is MWwire’s 2023 Head Coach Of The Year
The Rebels reached nearly unprecedented heights this fall, which made Odom our unanimous pick as the Mountain West’s top leader.
Contact/Follow @MWCwire
An off-Strip sensation this season.
Mountain West Wire’s 2023 postseason honors:
All-Conference Teams | Offensive Player of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | Special Teams Player of the Year | Freshman of the Year | Newcomer of the Year | Coach of the Year | Coordinator of the Year
For as long as the Mountain West has existed, “UNLV football head coach” has been one of the toughest jobs in the country… until this year.
Rebels head coach Barry Odom earned our vote as the conference’s top coach by doing what was considered seemingly impossible by many: Build a winner in the desert. Despite an unexpected quarterback switch and other injuries on both sides of the ball, Odom’s team displayed tenacity throughout the season and finished the regular season with a 9-3 record, appearing in the program’s first conference championship game ever.
It marked the first time in nearly 40 years that the program had won so many games in one season, and though the Rebels eventually came up short against Boise State, UNLV still finished 62nd nationally by FEI and 60th by SP+. Both represent high-water marks for the program’s time in the Mountain West. While it remains to be seen what he can do for an encore, 2023 will go down as a season for the ages in Las Vegas no matter what.
Also received votes: Blake Anderson, Utah State; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Brent Brennan, San Jose State; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Timmy Chang, Hawaii; Spencer Danielson, Boise State
