March 17, 2007
LAS VEGAS - UNLV head football coach Mike Sanford completed his 2007 coaching staff Saturday with the announcement that Dennis Therrell will come aboard as linebackers coach in time for next week's opening of spring practice.
Therrell, a veteran of more than 25 years of coaching, has been a defensive coordinator for programs such as Army, Murray State and Illinois State. He spent 2006 as a volunteer coach for the Auburn Tigers.
"We did a national search to find the best linebackers coach we could bring in and Dennis Therrell is that man," Sanford said. "He offers our program a great combination of experience and outstanding linebacker-coaching ability."
Therrell spent two seasons as defensive coordinator at Murray State from 2004-05 after serving the previous four years at Army under new UNLV offensive coordinator Todd Berry, who was head coach of the Black Knights.
Prior to that, Therrell was the defensive coordinator at Illinois State from 1997-99, helping the Redbirds to the 1999 NCAA Division I-AA semifinals. He also was the head coach at Division-II Lock Haven University from 1990-1995 and served as an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State and the University of Tennessee.
A native of Pikeville, Tenn., Therrell played at Tennessee Tech, helping lead the Golden Eagles to the 1975 Ohio Valley Conference championship. At UNLV he replaces Tony Dews, who recently left for a position at West Virginia. With Therrell joining the program, the Rebel defensive staff assignments are as follows: Vic Shealy, Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties; Kurt Barber, Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line; Dennis Therrell, Linebackers; and Mike Bradeson, Special Teams Coordinator/Cornerbacks.
Sanford also announced that his son, Mike Sanford, who has served as offensive graduate assistant for the last two seasons, has accepted a job as offensive assistant at Stanford University where will work with the quarterbacks under new Cardinal Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. UNLV's GAs for the 2007 season will be Andy LaRussa on defense and Kirk Wherritt, who moves from defense to the offensive side of the ball.
