LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – As part of his first day of spring practice in Las Vegas, UNLV football head coach Barry Odom completed his staff with the official announcement of a number of hires on Wednesday, including one familiar name coming back to his alma mater.
 
Former Rebel star player Hunkie Cooper has joined the program in the newly created position of Director of Football Player Development. Having just completed his eighth season as an assistant coach overseeing wide receivers at fellow Mountain West member San Diego State, Cooper returns to the school where he famously played six different positions during his two-year Rebel career in 1990-91. An Honorable Mention All-American and two-time First Team All-Big West Conference honoree as a return man, he went on to become a legendary member of the Arizona Rattlers, being named the fifth-greatest player in Arena Football League history by the league's Silver Anniversary Committee, and inducted to the AFL Hall of Fame in 2011. The Texas native, who quarterbacked Navarro Junior College to the 1989 national championship before joining the Rebels, also served as a UNLV radio analyst in 1998-99. Cooper later began his coaching career in the AFL and eventually spent six seasons as head coach of Canyon Springs High School in Las Vegas before moving to the collegiate level.
 
Veteran football administrator Mark Ouimet has been named the UNLV Director of Football Operations. Returning from the private sector, Ouimet reunites with Odom, having served in the same role in the SEC when both were at Missouri. He moved to Columbia after six seasons as Assistant Director of Operations at Akron after previously serving for two years as Coordinator of Recruiting Operations at Mississippi State. Ouimet moved to Starkville after a decade living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he spent time as the director of football operations for the All-American Football League and also worked as vice president of football operations for PMG Sports. He was a member of the University of Michigan's football staff as well, first serving as an assistant recruiting coordinator and special teams assistant, followed by an assignment as the Wolverines' coordinator of player development. The former graduate assistant coach at Northwood University is a 1995 graduate of Siena Heights College in Michigan.
 
Taking over the Director of Player Personnel position for the Rebels is Brad Odom. Most recently the assistant athletics director and an assistant coach at Ada High School in Oklahoma, the elder Odom returned to the world of education in 2021 after having worked in private business. He brings with him to the Rebel program a wealth of experience in the sport of football, having coached at various schools since graduating from East Central University in Oklahoma, including serving as head coach at Dickson High School in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.
 
Odom also welcomed to the staff new Defensive Analyst Nicco Fertitta and Offensive Analyst Ken Merchant. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Fertitta was a star defensive back at national powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School who became a four-year letterman at Notre Dame from 2015-18. He returns home after most recently serving as a defensive graduate assistant coach for LSU in the SEC. Merchant joins the Rebels after serving last season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Monroe College. A former player at his alma mater Southern Connecticut State, Merchant's previous coaching stops include Pace University, Long Island, Buffalo, Howard and ASA College.
 
A trio of new graduate assistant coaches have also joined the Rebels. Robbie Bell (below, left) and CJ Pollard (below, center) on offense and former UNLV star offensive lineman Julio Garcia (below, right) on defense. Bell is a former starting offensive lineman at Louisville (2016-21) who most recently was an Offensive Quality Control Coach at Western Kentucky. A former four-star recruit at safety, Pollard was a member of a Pac-12 Conference and Rose Bowl championship team at USC. He started his coaching career at Junipero Serra High School as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the junior varsity. A former recruiting assistant intern at UNLV, Pollard most recently served as a Defensive Analyst for UC Davis. Garcia, a product of two-time national champion Bishop Gorman, was a three-year starter and five-year letterman up front for the Rebels from 2016-21. He became the team's Wiesner Award Winner and Wuerffel Award nominee as a Super Senior after earning his bachelor's degree from the university in 2020.

  
 
In addition, Ethan Baxter (below, left), a 2021 graduate of Arkansas where he was recruiting assistant for the Razorbacks, has been named UNLV Football Administration Assistant, while taking over as Football Video Coordinator is Ross LoCascio (below, right), a 2021 graduate of Alabama where he served as a Video Operations Assistant for the Crimson Tide.

 
 
-UNLV-
 
2023 UNLV FOOTBALL STAFF
Head Coach                                   Barry Odom (1st year/Missouri 1999)     
Offensive Coordinator/QBs      Brennan Marion (1st year/Tulsa 2009)    
Defensive Coordinator/LBs      Mike Scherer (1st year/Missouri 2016) "SHEER" 
Special Teams Coordinator      James Shibest (1st year/Arkansas 1988) "SHE-best"      
Offensive Line                              Vance Vice (1st year/Oklahoma State 1990)       
Tight Ends                                     Nate Longshore (3rd year/Cal 2008)
Running Backs                           Cornell Ford (1st year/Toledo 1991)       
Wide Receivers                           Del Alexander (1st year/USC 1995)       
Defensive Line                             Ricky Logo (1st year/NCSU 1992)         
Safeties                                          Damon Magazu (4th year/ECU 2013) "mah-GAH-zoo"
Cornerbacks                                 Akeem Davis (1st year/Memphis 2011)
 
Defensive Analyst                      Nicco Fertitta (1st year/Notre Dame 2019)
Offensive Analyst                       Ken Merchant (1st year/Southern Conn. State 2018)
Special Teams Analyst             James Brown (3rd year/Oregon 2018)
 
Graduate Assistant (defense) Julio Garcia III (1st year/UNLV 2020)
Graduate Assistant (offense)  Robbie Bell (1st year/Louisville 2020)
Graduate Assistant (offense)  CJ Pollard (1st year/USC 2020)
 
Dir. of Football Operations       Mark Ouimet (1st year/Siena Heights 1995)
Football Administration Asst.  Ethan Baxter (1st year/Arkansas 2021)
Director of Player Personnel    Brad Odom (1st year/East Central University 1997)
Dir. of Player Development      Hunkie Cooper (1st year/UNLV 1991)
Director of Recruiting                Kelsea Winkle (2nd year/Colorado State 2018)
Football Video Coordinator      Ross LoCascio (1st year/Arkansas 2021)
 
Strength & Conditioning HC    Jeff Fish (1st year/WCU 1989)
Associate S&C Coach                 Shawn Field (1st year/Washington State 2020)
Assistant S&C Coach                  Qua Scott (2nd year/Charleston Southern 2019)
Assistant S&C Coach                  Deon Edwards (1st year/Arkansas 2021)