LAS VEGAS (AP) — Barry Odom had only minutes earlier claimed his most important victory as a head coach when his thoughts turned Saturday night to the lowest moment of his career.
Odom was fired five years ago to the day by Missouri, and he began to choke up and stopped talking for a few seconds as he pondered the journey from that memory to celebrating UNLV defeating Nevada 38-14 to make the Mountain West championship game — and have a real shot at the College Football Playoff.
“I'll never forget that,” Odom said of being let go at Missouri. “You learn from your lessons. You learn from your opportunities. You pick yourself up, you dust yourself off and you go create more.”
The 48-year-old Odom has done just that at a place that had been coaching purgatory. The Rebels, ranked 19th by The Associated Press and 20th by CFP, plays at No. 10 Boise State on Friday night. Because those are the two highest-ranked teams in the CFP poll, the winner will advance to the playoffs as the Group of Five representative.
Before Odom took over two years ago, the Rebels had played in just four bowls. Now, they will be making back-to-back trips to the postseason for the first time, regardless of what happens against the Broncos.
At 10-2, they have double-digit victories for just the third time, and the first in 40 years when the program's greatest player, Randall Cunningham, played quarterback.
UNLV's startling success showed up in the conference awards that were announced Tuesday. Linebacker Jackson Woodard was named the league's top defensive player, wide receiver/punt blocker Ricky White III the best special teams player and kicker Caden Chittenden the top freshman.
Odom routinely deflects praise to his players, assistant coaches, support staff and administration for the team's success, but he's the one responsible for putting most of the pieces in place.
“Him believing in me makes me believe in myself,” said Woodard, who transferred from Arkansas two years ago with Odom, who was the Razorbacks' associate head coach and defensive coordinator. "That's what I admire about him so much. I haven't always had that in my career, at least early in my career. That's why I followed him.
“Coming here, I didn't even think about losing. I knew we were going to go win.”
Others went to UNLV with similarly high hopes only to crash and burn. The three most recent hires are back in high-profile positions — Marcus Arroyo is the offensive coordinator at No. 12 Arizona State, Tony Sanchez is the head coach at New Mexico State and Bobby Hauck is back at Montana where he's that FCS power's all-time winningest coach.
Odom could've been the latest coach with a strong resume to get to Las Vegas and quickly struggle to win three games in a season.
Not only has he quickly turned around the program, he put a jolt of energy into it. UNLV twice attracted crowds of more than 40,000 fans this season to games at Allegiant Stadium and averaged a program-best 32,202 for home games. The Rebels more than carved out a spot in a sports landscape that also includes championship NHL and WNBA franchises and a storied NFL organization.
“I was concerned,” Odom said. “Was there enough space in Vegas for a college football team? And the answer is a resounding, ‘Absolutely, yes.’ Our team, our players have created that.”
Because of that, UNLV could have a problem on its hands. Odom, no doubt, has put his name in the minds of athletic directors all over the country who are, or soon will be, in the market for a new coach. That puts the onus on UNLV AD Erick Harper to find a way to keep him.
The Rebels, in the meantime, have a big game to play on the blue turf at Boise State and then maybe in the playoffs.
Their season could've been sidetracked when quarterback Matthew Sluka left the program after three games because of a name, image and likeness dispute. Odom's steady hand, commitment to details and belief in Hajj-Malik Williams to step in at quarterback kept the Rebels rolling.
“He talks about habits, and those things can be overlooked as not being important,” Williams said. “But when you really focus on your habits, when you look up, you have opportunities like we have now.”
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