Can UNLV football become the next Boise State?

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023 | 2 a.m.

No one knows what the future holds for the Mountain West after this season, but it’s pretty clear that the past and present of the conference belong to Boise State.

The Broncos have been the standard bearer for the league’s football programs, consistently fielding Top 25-caliber teams and slaying power-conference opponents on the regular. And every year, it seems as though the path to the MWC championship goes through Boise.

But could it be time for a new reign atop the MWC?

And more specifically, could that new ruler be UNLV?

It’s a question worth asking now that the Scarlet and Gray have shot to the top of the standings via a one-year turnaround under new head coach Barry Odom. UNLV went 9-3 this season and 6-2 in conference play, earning a spot in the Mountain West championship game — where they will host none other than Boise State at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.

Odom spoke highly of Boise State in his Monday press conference, recognizing how difficult it is to remain on top year after year and holding up the Broncos as a model to which UNLV can aspire.

“There’s great consistency they’ve had over the years,” Odom said. “It starts with alignment within the leadership. It speaks volumes of the character and the types of student-athletes they’re recruiting, and then their foundation is really strong. We’ve started in on all aspects of that. The goal of mine would be for this program to someday, years and years from now, to be looked at as a consistent winner and competing for championships every single year.”

It’s not easy to spot a passing-of-the-torch moment ahead of time, or even as it happens, but several different factors may be aligned for UNLV right now. The Scarlet and Gray could go into Saturday’s game as David and come out as Goliath.

Here’s how UNLV could become the next Boise State:

The breakthrough

It all starts with winning. For Boise State, it was a 1999 campaign that saw the Broncos go 10-3 and make their first trip to a bowl game, earning a win in the Humanitarian Bowl. Once that happened, Boise sustained that initial success, built on it, and reached previously unheard of heights with a 12-1 campaign in 2002 that saw the team ranked in the Top 25 for the first time.

That started a string of 19 straight years in which Boise State broke into the Top 25 at some point, and that’s the kind of run UNLV wants to emulate.

UNLV is at Step 1 now. Lots of teams get there, though, and drop back to the pack after one exciting bowl campaign.

In order to follow Boise’s path and elevate the program, Odom believes it takes an all-around commitment from the university and a complete investment in making UNLV a football school.

“You’ve got to be disciplined in your approach in every single area of the program — with recruiting, with offseason programs, with the ability to connect with the city or community you’re living in — all of those things,” Odom says. “And everybody that touches your players on a day to day basis, the vision has got to be there for them. The plan has to be there for them. And then the resources have to be in place to continue to provide for those.”

Is UNLV ready to make those commitments? Odom is already the highest paid football coach in the Mountain West; will the university do what it takes to retain him if a bigger school comes calling? How about the salary pool for his assistants? And the budget for recruiting?

That’s just the start. We’ll find out in the coming years whether UNLV is satisfied with the occasional bowl game, or if the program aspires for something more.

Recruiting pipeline

Since Boise State’s breakout season in 1999, the program has had 43 players selected in the NFL Draft. That’s an absurd number for a Mountain West program, and a great indication of the amount of talent flowing through Boise due to strong recruiting.

UNLV, meanwhile, hasn’t had a player drafted since 2010.

Talent wins, and UNLV needs to consistently bring in top-tier athletes in order to achieve the kind of success enjoyed by Boise State.

The Scarlet and Gray appear to be trending up in that department. There may be some NFL talent on the current roster, most notably junior wide receiver Ricky White, who could test the draft after this season, and UNLV currently has the top-rated recruiting class in the Mountain West for 2024, according to 247 Sports.

Odom has said since his introductory press conference that he wants to build via high-school recruiting, and he’s making progress on the trail. He’s got 21 players committed for 2024, including three who are ranked among the top 10 recruits in Nevada.

Winning should allow Odom and his staff to target even higher-caliber players in future classes. He said that it has already had an impact, as he noticed 2024 recruits getting more excited about joining the program as UNLV’s magical season unfolded.

“We’ve got a really good core of high-school kids committed to this next year’s class,” Odom says. “It’s sure exciting to hear their voices now as we get closer to signing day, to them joining our locker room, on how they see themselves fitting into this team. Talking about returning starters and how they’re going to play side-by-side next to Ricky and Jacob. That’s getting a little closer and a little bit more real for them, so that’s been fun.”

Coaching tree

Before completing one full season as UNLV’s offensive coordinator, Brennan Marion reportedly interviewed for the open head coach position at San Diego State.

While fans will fret about losing the man who turned the Scarlet and Gray into one of the most dynamic offensive attacks in the country, from Odom’s perspective it’s a good thing for assistants to be in demand.

Coaches leaving for promotions is a sign of a thriving program, and it opens up opportunities to elevate internal candidates. That’s something Boise State has learned to handle almost seamlessly, and with the way Marion and defensive coordinator Mike Scherer are popping up in coaching rumors, UNLV is going to have to deal with it out sooner or later.

“With wins, with success, those things follow,” Odom says. “I want to create an environment for our assistant coaches that they don’t want to leave. That we’ve got everything here, that they enjoy coming to work every day. I want assistant coaches that are great teachers, are great mentors, are great men, are great leaders. But also, I want them to strive to be coordinators. And I want our coordinators to strive to be head coaches. I don’t want to lose anybody, but if it’s an opportunity in the world of college coaching that they have an opportunity to maybe go be a head coach someday or go be a coordinator, I want to make it really, really hard for them to leave.”

Money is the biggest factor that would make it harder for assistants to leave, and Boise State pays its assistants more than any other program in the Mountain West. UNLV can either step up financially, or be prepared to pivot when departures inevitably occur.

Transfer portal

As much as Odom wants to build via high-school recruiting, the transfer portal is a way of life in today’s game. And Odom and his staff did a terrific job in their first offseason of securing impact players via that pipeline, including defensive standouts Jackson Woodard and Jaxen Turner, running back Donavyn Lester and offensive linemen Jack Hasz and Jalen St. John.

Of course, the portal goes both ways, and Odom realizes some of the players on the current roster are going to look for greener pastures.

“We know that next Monday when the portal opens, we’re going to lose some players,” he says. “I hate to say that. I don’t want to lose anybody, but we’re going to. That is the nature of college football.”

When a position needs to be shored up, Odom can’t always trust an incoming freshman or an unproven underclassman to become a key contributor. So he and his staff are planning to hit the portal in search of immediate impact.

It’s something UNLV has to do in order to keep winning year after year.

“We’re going to be very aggressive in that market,” Odom says. “I don’t want to lose anybody other than the graduating seniors that are going on to play in the NFL, or graduate and get a job. I hope we keep everybody else, but I would be very, very naïve to think that we’re going to. So you’d better have a plan in place of how you’re going to replace whoever that is, either through high-school recruiting, junior-college recruiting or portal transfers.”

Fan support

One of the reasons Boise State can pay top rate for assistant coaches is because the Broncos sell out just about every home game. They averaged 35,121 fans per game in 2022, then set a new program record this year by averaging 35,867. For comparison, UNLV has averaged 22,710 fans per game in three years at Allegiant Stadium.

A fuller stadium doesn’t just pump money into the program’s coffers, it entices recruits and creates a better atmosphere for current players. It also drives up television ratings, and as we’ve all come to realize in recent years with realignment, nothing is more important in the college football landscape than TV.

A win on Saturday could catapult UNLV into a new era, growing the season-ticket base and generating more interest from the Las Vegas community heading into 2024 and beyond.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.