LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Mike Scherer, who previously helped build one of the most successful defenses in UNLV football history, has returned to the Rebels to work on the staff of second-year head coach Dan Mullen, the school announced Friday.
Scherer (SHEER), who will oversee UNLV's linebackers, spent last season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in the Big Ten Conference at Purdue under former Rebel head coach Barry Odom. Scherer's 2025 Boilermaker defense featured three all-conference honorees, including former Rebel linebacker
Mani Powell, who became the first Purdue player to lead the Big Ten in tackles during league play with 94 (110 overall) and was one of only three players in the country with at least 100 tackles, 12 TFLs and five sacks. DB Tahj Ra-El (110 total tackles) and former Rebel LB
Charles Correa (96 tackles) both earned honorable mention.
Scherer returns to Las Vegas just a season removed from a memorable two-year stint at UNLV as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach that saw the program win 20 games and make back-to-back trips to the Mountain West Championship game and consecutive bowl appearances for the first time, including winning the 2024 LA Bowl over Cal.
In 2023-24, the Rebels forced 50 turnovers, including 34 interceptions. The turnover total ranked fourth in the country over that span, while the number of picks was second-most by any team in the nation. UNLV also cracked the Top 25 in sacks (67) and tackles-for-loss in those combined seasons.
Helping the Rebels win 11 games and earn a national ranking in 2024, Scherer's defense appeared in the nation's Top 25 in several categories: fourth in interceptions (17), 15th in sacks (2.93 per game), 18th in third-down percentage defense (.323), 20th in TFL (7.0 per game), 22nd in rushing defense (115.0 ypg) and 24th in team passing efficiency defense (117.09). The rush defense led the Mountain West and limited opponents to 115 yards per game despite twice facing Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty, the nation's leader by more than 800 rushing yards.
Scherer coached two All-Americans in 2024, guiding linebacker
Jackson Woodard and safety
Jalen Catalon. Woodard, who is now a member of the Miami Dolphins, was the first linebacker in program history to earn All-America (First Team by College Football Network and Second Team by FWAA and The Athletic) and was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. His 135 total tackles ranked third in program history and fourth in the FBS that fall. He also cracked the nation's Top 20 with 17 TFL. He ranked third in the MW with four interceptions and fourth with 12 passes defended. He was just one of six players since 2005 to record at least 135 total tackles, 15 tackles-for-loss and four interceptions. Catalon was named an AP Third Team All-American and Jim Thorpe Award Semifinalist, an award presented to the nation's top defensive back. He recorded 96 total tackles and five interceptions and was the only FBS defensive back to have at least 85 tackles and five interceptions in 2024. Scherer's Scarlet & Gray defenses also included another future NFL player in current Green Bay Packer defensive back Jonathan Baldwin.
Scherer's first season at the helm in 2023 saw the Rebel D help the program win a regular-season co-championship and reach a bowl game for the first time in a decade. UNLV tied for fourth in the nation with 17 interceptions and finished tied for 17th in the country with a turnover margin of plus-eight after forcing at least one turnover in 13 of 14 games.
Leading his linebacker room was Woodard, who totaled 117 tackles en route to First Team All-Mountain West honors and being named Mountain West Defensive Newcomer of the Year by College Football Network. Right behind him in tackles with 89 was another linebacker,
Marsel McDuffie, who won a MW Player of the Week nod and Honorable Mention All-MW.
Scherer first came to Las Vegas fresh from helping Arkansas win the AutoZone Liberty Bowl over Kansas. As the Razorbacks linebacker coach, he served as interim defensive coordinator for head coach Sam Pittman after Odom's departure for UNLV in early December 2022.
Scherer spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach for the SEC school. In his two seasons overseeing the Razorback linebackers, Scherer produced stunning results from his position group. In 2022, the Hogs featured AP First Team All-American Drew Sanders, who became a Third Round NFL Draft Pick by the Denver Broncos after becoming the program's first-ever Butkus Award finalist. In 12 games, Sanders led Arkansas in tackles (103), tackles-for-loss (13.5), sacks (9.5) and forced fumbles (3). The First Team All-SEC linebacker joined Khalil Mack of Buffalo (2013) as the only two FBS players since 2000 to post 100 or more total tackles, at least 13 TFL, nine sacks, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception in the same season.
During his first year overseeing the position in 2021, Scherer produced one of the best linebacker corps in recent memory. Grant Morgan won the Burlsworth Trophy, and Bumper Pool led the team and ranked third in the SEC in total tackles with a career-best 125 stops. Morgan and Pool teamed up with Hayden Henry to complete a tackling trio with all three making 100-plus tackles and giving Arkansas half of the top six tacklers in the conference. Initially serving as a defensive analyst under Odom in 2020, Scherer first stepped into an on-field coaching role for a game week that fall when Odom served as head coach during Pittman's absence due to COVID-19.
Scherer began his coaching career in 2019 as a graduate assistant at Missouri under then-head coach Odom before both moved to Fayetteville.
A native of St. Louis, Scherer played linebacker at Mizzou from 2012-16, totaling 266 tackles, 17 TFL, one sack and one interception, seeing action in 38 games over his four-year career. A knee injury limited him to seven games as a senior after posting back-to-back seasons of 90-plus tackles to rank second on the team each season.
Scherer graduated with a bachelor's degree in business from Missouri in 2016.
