Marcus Arroyo Should Win The Mountain West Coach Of The Year Award
UNLV Finished The Season With A 5-7 Record
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Arroyo Deserves The Honor
UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo deserves to be the 2022 Mountain West Coach of the Year.
UNLV was not expected to be competitive this year and Arroyo guided UNLV to the most wins in a single season since 2017. This was Arroyo’s third season as UNLV’s head coach and he won more games in 2022 than he did in the last two seasons combined.
While a bowl game is still out of reach for the Rebels, Arroyo coached a team that was on the doorstep of playing in a meaningful game in December. In 20 years, UNLV’s only bowl game was the 2013 Heart of Dallas Bowl. He gave UNLV a legitimate chance to reach the postseason, which was been a rarity for this program.
Arroyo found a way to get to five wins with a 27-22 win over Nevada. UNLV overcome several injuries throughout the season and was the conference’s sleeper team.
Critics would point out Arroyo’s six-game losing streak that was snapped against Nevada in Week 13. UNLV had a miserable loss to Hawaii in Week 12 that extended that losing streak, but the Rebels fought hard on the road. If UNLV beat Hawaii, it would have set up a potential bowl bid against Nevada in the regular season finale.
Even though UNLV had difficult losses, that should not take away from the clear progression that the program made in 2022. Before the six-game skid, UNLV was 4-1 to start the season. Arroyo had his team positioned to compete for a Mountain West Championship in the first month of the season. Unfortunately, the losing streak ended any chance the Rebels had of winning the conference.
After his first two seasons, Arroyo had a combined record of 2-16. Entering the 2022 season, Arroyo had pressure to win or he could have been let go by the end of the season.
While a 5-7 record was disappointing for a team that could have finished with a winning record, UNLV needed to embrace the moral victory that was the 2022 season. Arroyo saved his job and made UNLV an attractive destination in the Mountain West Conference. He overachieved with a roster that was projected to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West for another season. No other coach in the Mountain West had as much of an uphill battle to win games and was as successful as Arroyo was.
To put it simply, Arroyo deserves to win the Mountain West Coach of the Year award.
