Damon Magazu is one of two holdovers from the previous staff to serve under head coach Barry Odom in 2023, having completed his third season coaching in the Rebel defensive secondary last fall.
In 2022, his safeties helped UNLV finish 10th in the nation during the regular season with 15 total interceptions, which was the most for the program since 2012. He also tutored Jonathan Baldwin, who won Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week after the season-ending victory over UNR.
Magazu came to Las Vegas in 2020 after spending the previous two seasons at Oklahoma where he helped coach the Sooner secondary as a graduate assistant. In his two seasons in Norman, the Sooners twice won the Big 12 Championship, extending their streak to five straight conference titles, and made back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff.
Prior to Oklahoma, Magazu was a defensive GA at his alma mater, East Carolina, where he was a standout defensive back. His distinguished playing career, which began in 2010, included appearances in 50 games, 37 starts, 265 tackles and 11 interceptions. He was a two-time All-Conference USA selection who earned the program’s defensive player-of-the-year award in 2013, was a Rock Roggeman Heart-of-the-Pirate Award honoree and recipient of the 2014 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Bill Dooley Chapter Outstanding Scholar Athlete Award.
Magazu graduated from ECU in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
MAGAZU’S COACHING FILE
2020-PR UNLV – Safeties
2018-19 Oklahoma – Graduate Assistant
2016-17 East Carolina – Graduate Assistant
