LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — UNLV football coach Barry Odom has received a one-year contract extension that includes retention bonuses, according to a Friday news release.
Odom’s contract will now run through the 2028 season.
In his first season leading the Rebels, Odom’s team went 9-5, the program’s best record since 1984. The Rebels lost to Boise State in the 2023 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game, 44-20. The Rebels were invited to their first bowl game since 2013, and they lost to Kansas, 49-36, in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
Odom, 47, was named Mountain West Coach of the Year, the first time a UNLV coach has received that honor since John Robinson, in 2000, led the Rebels to the Las Vegas Bowl.
Odom receives a base salary of $400,000 each year. He will earn a total package of at last $1.75 million next season, matching his salary from last season and reportedly making him the highest-paid coach in the Mountain West. His total compensation rises to at least $2.4 million by 2028.
UNLV also will pay Odom retention bonuses of $200,000 in March 2026 and 2028, and $100,000 in February 2029.
The team had the highest cumulative grade point average (3.22) in the program’s history, according to the news release.
“We are obviously thrilled about what Barry Odom and his staff did in year one leading Rebel football,” Director of Athletics Erick Harper said Friday. “The program is on an upward trajectory and we could not be more excited about him leading the way. Barry continues to be a man of his word, focusing on growing all phases of the program the right way. He is committed to his players, coaches and staff and with the newly expanded CFP he is laying a foundation that gives Rebel Football a chance to compete at the highest level. I look forward to working with Coach Odom for years to come.”
Odom was the program’s first-ever finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award along with various other national coach of the year honors.
“I’m excited about the foundation we have built in the past 16 months and I certainly look forward to our strong future,” Odom said.
“I’m thankful for our staff and our student-athletes — they are on a mission to win a championship,” he said. “I’m also thankful for the tremendous support we receive from the UNLV community, its fans and business partners and the extraordinary city of Las Vegas as we build a program in which we can all be proud. Together, I’m confident that we will continue to move the program forward and have success.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.