LAS VEGAS — The results already exist. This move is about restoring them.

Mike Scherer is back. He is headed to Las Vegas in 2026 to join the staff of second-year head coach Dan Mullen. Scherer will oversee the Rebels’ linebackers, returning to a role that helped elevate UNLV from rebuild to sustained contender.

Scherer spent last season as Purdue's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under former Rebel head coach Barry Odom. Despite a difficult 2025 in West Lafayette, his unit still produced three all-conference defenders, led by former UNLV linebacker Mani Powell, who led the Big Ten in tackles during conference play (94) and finished the season with 110 total stops while landing on a short national list of defenders with at least 100 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and five sacks.

Still, Scherer’s most complete body of work remains firmly rooted in Scarlet & Gray.

From 2023-24, Scherer’s defenses helped UNLV win 20 games, reach back-to-back Mountain West Championship Games, and secure consecutive bowl appearances for the first time in program history, highlighted by a victory in the 2024 LA Bowl over Cal.

That success was built on disruption. Over those two seasons, UNLV forced 50 turnovers, including 34 interceptions, ranking fourth nationally in total takeaways and second nationally in picks. The Rebels also cracked the national Top 25 in both sacks (67) and tackles for loss during that span.

The point wasn’t that the defense arrived fully formed in year one; it was that the structure showed up immediately. In 2023, UNLV was still experiencing volatility (opponents averaged 28.6 points per game). Still, the takeaway engine was already humming: 17 interceptions, a +8 turnover margin, and a weekly ability to steal possessions even when the yardage profile wasn’t perfect. And those picks weren’t a one-man phenomenon. Cameron Oliver and Jaxen Turner each finished with five interceptions, while Johnathan Baldwin added two, giving the defense multiple ways to flip games.

A year later, that same framework tightened into something closer to program-defining.

The 2024 season represented the apex. UNLV finished inside the national Top 25 in interceptions (4th), sacks (15th), third-down defense (18th), tackles for loss (20th), and rushing defense (22nd). Despite facing Heisman Trophy finalist Ashton Jeanty twice, the Rebels still limited opponents to 115 rushing yards per game, best in the Mountain West.

The dominance wasn’t just aesthetic; it showed up in control numbers. In 2024, UNLV held opponents to 21.3 points per game, allowed just 32.18% conversions on third down, and finished with 98 tackles for loss, 42 sacks, and 17 interceptions across an 11-win season. That profile travels: win early downs, force long-yardage, get off the field, and hand possessions back to an offense built to capitalize.

Everything Scherer builds starts in the middle of the defense.

In 2024, linebacker Jackson Woodard became the first All-American linebacker in program history, earning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors while finishing with 135 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and four interceptions. Safety Jalen Catalon added AP Third Team All-America recognition and a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist nod, producing 96 tackles and five interceptions while giving UNLV a second high-leverage playmaker at the center of the defense.

But the strongest proof of Scherer’s influence is that UNLV’s disruption wasn’t isolated; it was distributed. The defense didn’t need one edge rusher to manufacture pressure. It created negative plays through the second level: Fisher Camac (15 TFL, 7.5 sacks), Antonio Doyle Jr. (8 TFL, 6.5 sacks), Mani Powell (9 TFL, 3.5 sacks), and Woodard (17 TFL) all produced high-impact seasons inside a structure that asked linebackers to be decision-makers, not passengers.

That’s the difference between a defense that spikes and a defense that holds. When the production is shared, the identity is sustainable.

Scherer’s first season at UNLV in 2023 laid the foundation, and the individual numbers show it: Woodard posted 116 tackles as the centerpiece, while Marsel McDuffie added 89 and Baldwin finished with 77. The volume was real. The takeaways were real. The leap in 2024 was not a reinvention; it was a refinement.

Before arriving at UNLV, Scherer built a reputation for developing high-volume, assignment-sound linebackers at the SEC level. At Arkansas, he coached AP First Team All-American Drew Sanders and Burlsworth Trophy winner Grant Morgan, while also helping develop Bumper Pool into one of the conference’s most consistently productive defenders, who was a multi-year starter who ranked among the program’s all-time leaders in tackles through reliability rather than splash alone. That developmental throughline traces back to Missouri, where Scherer played linebacker from 2012-16 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant.

This isn’t a reunion built on familiarity. It’s one built on function.

As UNLV enters a phase where sustainability matters more than arrival, bringing Scherer back restores a defensive mechanism that has already proven it can win in this conference, with this roster profile, and under pressure.

UNLV didn’t chase projection. They reclaimed production, and for a program intent on protecting the gains it’s already made, that distinction matters.