Sanford hires defensive coordinator

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004 | 10:40 a.m.

New UNLV head football coach Mike Sanford has gone inside the Mountain West Conference to hire the Rebels' new defensive coordinator.

Vic Shealy, 43, the secondary coach at the Air Force Academy the past six years who also worked with kick blocking and kickoff return teams, has been hired as the team's assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. He will be joined on the staff by new defensive line coach/special teams coordinator Ken Sharrar.

"I've known him for about 15 years," Sanford said of Shealy. "I got to know him real well when I was a coach at USC and he was the head coach at Azusa Pacific University and he would stop by to discuss football with us. I'm extremely elated to have him on my staff."

Shealy won an NAIA national title in 1998 at Azusa Pacific in Azusa, Calif., and was named the NAIA National Coach of the Year. He moved on to Air Force the following year where he helped develop all-conference defenesive backs like Jeff Overstreet and Larry Duncan. He also recruited California,. Arizona and the Las Vegas area for the Falcons.

Sharrar comes to UNLV from West Chester (Pa.) University, a team that was ranked seventh in NCAA Division II this year. He previously coached high school football in the Long Beach area of southern California at Brethren Christian High School and maintains strong coaching relationships with prep coaches in that talent-rich area as well as neighboring Orange County.

"He's an extremely bright and hard-working coach," Sanford said. "He's a guy I've known a long time as a football coach since his days as a graduate assistant at Long Beach State in the early '80s."

You might say Sanford knows Sharrar extremely well. He's also his brother-in-law.

Sanford still has one more opening on the offensive side of his coaching staff to fill. That person will either coach running backs or wide receivers depending on their experience.