UNLV’s new offensive coordinator Rosenbach: traditional scheme, but faster

UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck believes in a traditional offense with a traditional approach to moving down the field.

Timm Rosenbach, hired Wednesday to be the Rebels' offensive coordinator, will run that type of offense, but he hopes to give opposing defenses plenty to think about.

"I watch Alabama, and I would love to do that," he said. "But you look at what Alabama's got. They don't have first-teamers and second-teamers. They've got (NFL) first-rounders and second-rounders. We've got to take bits and pieces and make our own system."

Rosenbach, 46, was the offensive coordinator at Montana last season before being hired at Weber State in November. Hauck graduated from Montana and coached the Grizzlies from 2003 to 2009.

"We're excited to have Timm join our staff," Hauck said in a statement. "I've known him for many years and coached against him on numerous occasions. Having tried to stop his offense as a defensive coach, I know he has good instincts and a really good feel on game day."

Rosenbach guided a Montana offense that averaged 452.3 yards per game in 2012. He also was the offensive coordinator at New Mexico State in 2009 and Eastern Washington in 2001 and 2002.

Doubling as the quarterbacks coach at all those spots, Rosenbach also oversaw that position at his alma mater, Washington State, from 2003 to 2007.

He also will be the quarterbacks coach at UNLV, which means Rob Phenicie will switch to another spot. Hauck has not announced how his staff will be assembled, and the defensive coordinator position remains open.

Football Scoop reported Hauck wants his brother, Tim, to become the coordinator if he's not retained by new Cleveland Browns coach Rob Chudzinski.

Tim Hauck was the secondary coach for the Browns last season and handled the same role for the Tennessee Titans the two previous years. He also coached at UCLA and Montana, and played 13 seasons in the NFL.

Bobby Hauck didn't respond to a text message asking about his brother.

As for Rosenbach, he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 as the quarterback at Washington State. He went on to play three seasons for the Phoenix Cardinals before injuries ended his NFL career.

Rosenbach will oversee a UNLV offense that averaged 22.0 points and 367.9 yards last season.

"We'll do things at a rate that's faster than what it's been," Rosenbach said. "There has to be a significant amount of change to how we call plays and maybe the way we teach things to how we start practice and game plan."

The Rebels return most of their offense, including running back Tim Cornett, who rushed for 1,232 yards.

Quarterback Nick Sherry threw for 2,544 yards and 16 touchdowns but completed 53.1 percent of his passes and had 17 interceptions. Rosenbach said he hopes Troy Hawthorne, who redshirted last season, can push Sherry in practice.

"We have to run the ball," Rosenbach said. "We have to have a much higher completion percentage. We've got to make sure what we do on first down is as important as third down so we're not in third-and-long."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.