Wayne Benjamin Nunnely (March 29, 1952 – February 16, 2021) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

(UNLV) from 1986 to 1989. He was later an assistant coach in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

and

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. Nunnely died on February 16, 2021.

Playing career

Nunnely played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Monrovia High School Monrovia High School is a public high school located in Monrovia, California, a northeastern suburb of Los Angeles, United States. Monrovia High School is the only grades 9–12 comprehensive high school in the Monrovia Unified School Distric ...

Monrovia, California Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 37,931 at the 2020 census. Monrovia has been used for filming TV shows, movies and co ...

. Nunnely played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

(UNLV) where he was a

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

Coaching career

On April 23, 1986, Nunnely was named interim head coach at UNLV after

Harvey Hyde Harvey Leslie Hyde (born July 13, 1939) is an American sports journalist and former football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 1982 to 1985. Early career Hyde was born in Pasadena, Cal ...

was dismissed due to disciplinary issues surrounding his players. Nunnely had been an assistant coach on Hyde's staff.

Head coaching record

References

Place of death missing 1952 births 2021 deaths American football fullbacks Cal Poly Pomona Broncos football coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans football coaches Denver Broncos coaches New Orleans Saints coaches Pacific Tigers football coaches San Diego Chargers coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches UNLV Rebels football players USC Trojans football coaches High school football coaches in Nevada Sports coaches from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Monrovia, California Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California Coaches of American football from California African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople {{1970s-collegefootball-coach-stub