New UNLV football coach finalizes staff

Mullen’s last major additions were announced Thursday. The milestone comes after the former Florida and Mississippi State coach was hired to replace Barry Odom, who left Las Vegas to take over at Purdue.

New additions

Mullen pulled from his connections in the SEC to fill the vacancies opened by Odom bringing some of his staff with him to West Lafayette.

These are the new additions:

— Zach Arnett, defensive coordinator/linebackers

Arnett was an analyst at Ole Miss this season. He previously served as head coach at Mississippi State in 2023.

— Corey Dennis, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks

Dennis was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tulsa this season. He is the son-in-law of former college and NFL coach Urban Meyer, who employed Mullen at three programs.

— Adam Scheier, special teams coordinator

A 29-year veteran in collegiate coaching, Scheier managed special teams and tight ends at Temple for the past three seasons. His previous stops include Rutgers, Texas Tech, Ohio State and Wake Forest.

— Quinton Ganther, running backs

A former NFL running back, Ganther coached the position at Utah for the past three years and previously at Weber State. He also has coaching experience in the NFL as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive quality control coach (2021) and with the Seattle Seahawks (2013).

— Adrian Mayes, tight ends/run game coordinator

Mayes spent the past two seasons at Tulsa, serving as running backs coach before being promoted to run game coordinator. Before that, he spent time as North Texas’ tight end coach and held various roles over three seasons at Texas State.

— Mike Sollenne, offensive line

Sollenne spent the past three seasons working with Ohio State’s offensive line as a graduate assistant. He worked with Mullen at Florida before that.

— Kyle Hoke, safeties

Hoke was a defensive analyst at Texas A&M this season, which ended in the Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium. He previously coached safeties at San Diego State.

— Tanner Maher, director of strength and conditioning

Maher was BYU’s associate director of strength and conditioning for the past two seasons and worked as Kansas football’s associate strength and conditioning coach in 2022. Before that, he held strength and conditioning roles on Mullen’s staffs at Florida and Mississippi State.

— Jonathan Herd-Bond, director of player personnel

Herd-Bond held the same title at Charlotte for the past two seasons. He previously worked at Michigan in recruiting and worked on Mullen’s Florida staff.

— Jon Clark, director of football operations

Clark most recently worked as assistant athletic director/chief of staff at South Alabama. He had previous stints with Mullen at Florida and Mississippi State.

— Lee Davis, chief of staff

A former volleyball player, Davis was assistant athletic director for executive operations and recruiting at Central Florida this season after two seasons in recruiting at Oklahoma. She worked with Mullen at Florida in recruiting from 2017-21.

Returners

Here are the staff members who will remain at UNLV from the previous regime:

— Del Alexander, wide receivers

Alexander served as the Rebels’ interim coach, helping the team prepare for the LA Bowl in Odom’s absence. It was the team’s first bowl victory in 24 years He’s been with UNLV on and off since 1998. He will continue in the same role he held on Odom’s staff, as will the other three returners.

— Ricky Logo, defensive line

— Akeem Davis, cornerbacks

— Hunkie Cooper, director of football player development and community engagement

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.