Page 60 - LVGL Summer 2021

UNLV

: Thoughts on the conference this year? Are there
Qsome teams that are particularly dangerous?

rroyo: Dangerous is probably the wrong word. Football
Ais beautiful because there are so many teams that have
really good talent nowadays. The talent in this conference
is great. One of my ex-coworkers, we were coordinators
together, Andy is now at Boise. My best friend is the coach
at San Jose State, where I played, and they just won the
conference. Fresno has been always really good, my men-
tor Jeff Tedford did a really nice job of turning them over.
Danny Gonzales is New Mexico has done a really good job.
Brady has done a great job at San Diego State. This is a great
conference, there are a lot of really great teams in it and
coaches in it. I have played in it, and now I have coached in
it, and I have seen it mature. And now to have this here in
this city with this conference, and I am fired up. The mar-
ket value of the conference is a really big deal, and our city's
impact is really going to help.
Games this year—we have got a really tough schedule.
Eastern Washington coming to town. We have Arizona
State at Arizona State, and that’s a Power 5 Pac 12 school
that has done a really good job. Iowa State is coming here,
and they are going to be a really tough top 10 team. Matt
Campbell has done an amazing job there, they are tough as Arroyo with Las Vegas Fire Chief Jeff Buchanan
nails. And then you get into our conference play. We have
a tough schedule for a young team in our infant stages,
but I am excited to see our guys go out there and compete
and see where we are at in really our first full year finally
together in football.

: Now that you’ve settled into Vegas, any go-to res-
Qtaurants or bars that are your favorites? Anything
surprise you about Vegas that you didn’t expect?

rroyo: Ahhh, I can’t name just one, I will get in trou-
Able! I say this, in all the cities I have lived in so far
the thing that plays the most for my family is the access
to really good food, to all of the transportation, entertain-
ment, and a lot of things that are really cool. We like to eat, I
like food, I will go anywhere. I love the steak houses, tacos,
sushi….there are a lot of places in this town that aren’t on
The Strip, but more off in the local areas. That is the thing
that kind of wowed us. There are 2.5-million people here,
it isn’t just a destination or tourist stop anymore. There is
structure here. I have a boat at Lake Mead where we go a
Arroyo in his office with Kenny Mayne

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