Del Alexander glad to be holdover on new UNLV football coaching staff

UNLV Rebels interim head coach Del Alexander holds up the LA Bowl title belt after the Rebels defeated the California Golden Bears 24-13 at SoFi Stadium Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Los Angeles. Photo by Steve Marcus

Like most people who were paying attention to college football the past two years, Del Alexander was not surprised when Purdue hired away Barry Odom to be its new head football coach.

After taking UNLV to back-to-back Mountain West championship games in his two years at the helm, Odom was a hot commodity. How hot? The day after the season ended he was off to Purdue, signing a contract for $39 million guaranteed.

That left Alexander, the team’s wide receivers coach, in the precarious but not entirely unexpected position of facing an uncertain future.

“UNLV is a place that for all coaches, if you’re having success, other schools are going to come for you,” Alexander said. “As an assistant coach, it happens and then you’re like ‘Well, what happens next?’”

What happened next couldn’t have played out any better from Alexander’s point of view. First he was elevated to interim head coach for UNLV’s bowl game, and shortly after leading the Scarlet and Gray to victory in the LA Bowl he reached an agreement to stay on staff under new head coach Dan Mullen.

Alexander will be in Las Vegas, coaching wide receivers in 2025 as UNLV looks to build on the program’s unprecedented momentum. And that’s where he wants to be.

Alexander’s first full-time job was UNLV’s wide receivers coach in 1998 under John Robinson. After moving to the NFL as the Chargers’ running backs coach for a year, Alexander came back to UNLV from 2000 to 2002 as receivers coach (and adding the title of quarterbacks coach in 2002).

He has worked at six other schools since then, most recently coaching Georgia Tech’s receivers in 2022 before joining Odom’s staff, but Las Vegas has maintained a certain pull for the Southern California native.

“I kind of wanted to come to UNLV when I left Georgia Tech, and now that I’m here I’m really, really comfortable,” he said. “But being real comfortable in the coaching profession is something that’s not wise. Happy though, yes.”

Alexander had no prior relationship with Mullen, but the two got to know each other quickly after Mullen was hired. While Alexander put the team through a week of bowl prep, Mullen was on campus beginning the work of a head coach, namely building his staff and getting a start on recruiting for 2025.

Mullen tasked Alexander and other assistants with some recruiting work. The two also got to know each other better when Mullen attended practices.

Though Mullen did not coach the team in any capacity, Alexander said he simply couldn’t help but take a peek at his new squad.

“He was going to give me the space to go ahead and finish this, but at the same time, as a coach I could tell he had that itch,” Alexander said. “He wanted to get around the guys, he wanted to feel that practice vibe again.”

After directing UNLV to a 24-13 win over Cal, Alexander finally got a chance to take a breath — and then it was time for a big conversation.

As Mullen began the process of hiring assistants, he and Alexander met in his office.

“It wasn’t necessarily an interview,” Alexander said. “It was an offer, and I accepted.”

Alexander wasn’t the only assistant to stay on from Odom’s staff. Defensive line coach Ricky Logo and cornerbacks coach Akeem Davis remain in the same roles, and on the administrative side Hunkie Cooper is still the director of football player development.

They’ve all hit the ground running, jumping straight from coaching in the bowl game to implementing Mullen’s recruiting strategy. Alexander described Mullen as “a high-energy guy” in all facets of coaching and said he gets down in the recruiting trenches with the assistants.

“The portal, the recruiting is nonstop,” Alexander said. “Coach Mullen watches all the video when it comes to the recruits. He is trying to find players that are going to help us win, and it’s not just a matter of us doing the job as coaches, he is hands-on with it. He has an opinion on whether a guy is good enough.”

Mullen clearly thinks Alexander is good enough, and UNLV will have some continuity on the sidelines heading into 2025.

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