UNLV Football Finalizes Strength and Conditioning Staff Under New Leadership

Fifita follows Maher from BYU, where he served as a strength and conditioning intern for the past two seasons. His responsibilities included overseeing group training for walk-ons and returnees from religious missions, as well as managing intern teams. Before his time in Provo, Fifita gained experience at Washington State, assisting with offseason and preseason training. A 2024 BYU graduate in exercise science, he is an NSCA-certified specialist.

Nelson arrives at UNLV after a stint as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Baylor in 2024, where he focused on weight room operations, velocity profiling, and performance monitoring. His career includes experience with Maher at Florida (2021) and South Florida (2022), as well as time at Warner University, where he played football before transitioning into coaching.

Bacchia rounds out the new staff, stepping in as the Rebels' associate director of strength and conditioning. He spent the last four years at UMASS as an assistant sports performance coach, overseeing sport science implementation. Before that, he worked at Florida during the Dan Mullen era and served as a graduate assistant at Southeastern Louisiana.

With these strategic hires, Maher’s staff is set to elevate UNLV’s strength and conditioning program, bringing fresh methodologies from some of the country’s top athletic programs. As the Rebels look to build on their recent momentum, this revamped department will play a crucial role in player performance and injury prevention.

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