May 1, 2008
LAS VEGAS - UNLV head coach Mike Sanford announced Thursday that he has hired Kenith Pope to fill out his 2008 staff as running backs coach.
Pope joins the Rebels after five years as the assistant head coach at Texas A&M, where he also oversaw the Aggie running backs the last two seasons and the team's wide receivers from 2004-05.
He replaces Reggie Davis, who left UNLV for a job at Oregon State last month.
A veteran of three decades in coaching, Pope also served as assistant head coach/receivers coach at Alabama in 2001-02. Other stops included TCU (from 1998-2000), Oklahoma (1995-97), Mississippi State (1991-94), Oklahoma State (1987-90) and SMU (1981-86).
"Kenny Pope is an outstanding and very experienced division-one football coach who adds a tremendous amount to our staff," Sanford said. "Normally with a new coach coming in there is a period of adjustment, but with Kenny's impressive background I feel like our run game will only get better from day one."
Pope has coached in 15 bowl games, including two Cotton, two Holiday and three Sun.
"I'm extremely excited to be a part of Coach Sanford's staff," Pope said. "I'm also excited about the players we have to work with here and think we'll get off to a good start with a guy like Frank Summers coming back as a senior. Other players that have been in this system, such as Channing Trotter, David Peeples and Chris Brogdon, will also have a big impact for us this fall. While the terminology may be different, we ran a similar spread offense at Texas A&M, so this is a good marriage from that standpoint."
A defensive back at the University Oklahoma, Pope earned his bachelor's degree from the school in 1976. He was a ninth round choice by the Oakland Raiders in the 1974 NFL Draft and played that same season with the New England Patriots.
Born on Dec. 28, 1951, in Galveston, Texas, he is married to the former Pam Armstrong.
The Rebels open the 2008 season on August 30 by hosting Utah State at 7 p.m. Season tickets are on sale now by calling (702) 739-FANS or logging on to unlvrebels.com. Single-game tickets go on sale June 16.
