Mike Scherer, defensive coordinator for UNLV football, poses in the Fertitta Football Complex on UNLV campus Thursday, June 13, 2024.
Thursday, July 11, 2024 | 2 a.m.
A knee injury cost Mike Scherer part of his senior season of college football at Missouri.
The linebacker rehabbed the injury with hopes of a professional career. He reached an NFL camp, only to again tear his ACL.
Scherer decided he was done with football, returning to his native St. Louis for a career in commercial real estate.
Then, his college coach Barry Odom came calling: Join my coaching staff at Missouri.
Scherer, after some convincing, has been with Odom every step of the way since, from Missouri to Arkansas for three seasons and in 2023 to Las Vegas as UNLV’s defensive coordinator.
The 30-year-old is considered one of the game’s promising young coaches — something that was evident in his maiden UNLV season. The Rebels forced 27 turnovers to rank fourth nationally; three UNLV defenders earned first- or second-team all-league honors.
A new season begins with practices this month. The Rebels, who enjoyed historic success with a nine-win season last year, are again expected to compete for a Mountain West title.
“After making it to a championship last year, expectations are high,” Scherer said.
On the fast track
Scherer met Odom at a prospect camp at the University of Missouri when he was 14. He was so impressive, he said, that Odom offered him a scholarship on the spot.
They’ve been close ever since, including in sharing many coaching philosophies.
Odom has confidence in his protégé to run the UNLV defense. He’s “very hands off,” Scherer said.
“There are times when he nudges me and says something, and that helps a lot,” he said. “There is a lot in 2012 that he was doing when he was defensive coordinator, and we are trying to carbon copy that. Even though he is not in the room all the time, he knows exactly what is going on.”
Scherer wound up starting three years at Missouri, totaling 266 tackles from 2012 to 2016. He had consecutive seasons of more than 90 tackles to rank second on the Missouri team.
The injury cut short his senior season after seven games. The second injury left him needing a break.
He initially rejected Odom — then the head coach at Missouri — for a graduate assistant job, saying his heart wasn’t into football and life in real estate was a nice change of pace.
Scherer’s mindset changed in the fall of 2018, when he was asked to be the defensive coordinator of a sixth-grade team. His father was the head coach.
“You teach them to tackle and run and hopefully they run to the right spot,” Scherer said. “I enjoyed it because of the joy the kids got when they made a play or doing something good. That’s what gets you hooked.”
Odom reached out again in the offseason. This time, Scherer accepted the offer and became a graduate assistant in 2019 at Missouri.
He followed Odom to Arkansas for three seasons starting in 2020, initially as a defensive analyst and then the linebackers coach. He was the position coach for first-team All-American Drew Sanders, who was Arkansas’ first finalist for the Butkus Award,which goes to the nation’s best linebacker.
That’s part of the reason why in 2021 Scherer was included in 247Sports’ 30Under30, a list of the fastest-rising coaches in college football under 30 years of age.
Odom says it best: “Coach Scherer is on the fast track to being one of the elite defensive coaches in college football.”
Defensive sparks
Scherer’s touch, especially when molding young linebackers, can best be illustrated by one player: UNLV’s Jackson Woodard.
Woodard played under Scherer at Arkansas, where in 2022 he registered just seven tackles in limited action. He flourished when given the opportunity at UNLV last season, registering 116 tackles as the leader of the defense and helping spur the program’s turnaround.
UNLV went from being projected to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West standings to playing in the league championship game.
The defense’s impact was obvious during one of the notable wins of the season, when UNLV overcame an early 17-point deficit and injury to its starting quarterback before rallying to beat Vanderbilt. UNLV forced four turnovers in the comeback, including a 53-yard fumble return for a touchdown by cornerback Jerrae Williams.
The rally ignited a five-game winning streak to propel the Rebels to one of the great stretches in program history. They ended up winning seven of eight games in claiming a share of the regular-season Mountain West title.
The stretch of wins included an 18-point victory against rival UNR, blowouts of Hawaii and Wyoming and close, gritty wins against Colorado State and Air Force.
UNLV’s offense — dubbed the go-go offense, the brainchild of offensive coordinator Brennan Marion — put up record-setting numbers and got some of the credit. The defense was equally important.
“Forcing turnovers won a lot of games for us,” Scherer said. “They helped us get back in games when we got behind and turned the tide when we needed them to.”
Not satisfied
Scherer was in Dallas with family to celebrate New Year’s Eve. As great as it was to be near friends and family, he couldn’t take his mind off football.
The Rebels were a day removed from a humbling 49-36 loss to Kansas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl and Scherer couldn’t stop thinking about what didn’t work.
He was so restless that he headed back to Las Vegas to start the process of fixing the defense that surrendered nearly 500 passing yards to the Jayhawks. For as great as UNLV’s nine-win season was, the Rebels lost their final three games.
“I couldn’t sit still. I didn’t want to be part of any party or anything,” he said. “So, I got on a plane and flew home. And I just sat home on New Year’s because I was not pleased, not happy about how things ended. You are sitting there by yourself and just thinking of ways to make it better.”
He’s confident about finding a solution, knowing the defense that takes the field Aug. 31 at Houston will be massively improved — especially the secondary.
That’s because UNLV upgraded its personnel in the transfer portal, landing a pair of defensive backs — LaDarrius Bishop and Malik Chavis — who were previously at Arkansas.
Those players have familiarity with Scherer’s defense and coaching style from their previous time together, giving the Rebels a distinct advantage. It’s not too far-fetched to argue that Bishop or Chavis, or some of the other defensive transfers, will impact the roster like Woodward did.
“We left a lot out there — a whole lot,” he said. “And, you know, it’s hard. It’s hard the way it ended. ... All that does is that it motivates you to get better and improve in the areas you need to improve in.”
UNLV fully expects to be back in contention for a Mountain West title. Some feel it will be the Rebels and Boise State again fighting for the top spot.
If it comes down to the defense making a stop, Scherer likes his team’s chances. And Odom certainly likes the coach calling the defensive plays.
“He is able to build the defense each week that schematically gives our kids the ability to play fast and win,” Odom said of Scherer. “He’s a great teacher, motivator and mentor.”
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