Marcus Cole Arroyo (born January 23, 1980) is 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 and former plauer. 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 2020 to 2022. Arroyo 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. From 2004 to 2019, Arroyo was an assistant coach, most recently at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

from 2017 to 2019.

Playing career

After graduating from Colfax High School in

Colfax, California Colfax (formerly Alden Grove, Alder Grove, Illinoistown, and Upper Corral) is a city in Placer County, California, at the crossroads of Interstate 80 and State Route 174. The population was 1,963 at the 2010 census. The town is named in hono ...

, Arroyo was the starting quarterback for the

San Jose State Spartans The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference (MW) at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football B ...

from 1998 to 2002. He set many school records for passing, some of which are still unsurpassed. To this day, Arroyo ranks eighth in passing yards (4,603), ninth in completions (348) and

total offense Total offense (or total offence) is a gridiron football statistic representing the total number of yards rushing and yards passing by a team or player. Total offense differs from yards from scrimmage, which gives credit for passing yardage to the ...

(4,525 yards), and tenth in

passing efficiency Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

(115.6). He still holds the school records for single-game passing efficiency and average yards per completion. Arroyo played in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

record-setting game against Nevada in 2001, where he threw five

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and the teams put up the score 64–45, which set the record for most total offense in a single game. Arroyo was the main starter of the Spartans until Scott Rislov took the job in 2002. Arroyo graduated from San Jose State in 2003 with a degree in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

Coaching career

Following his playing career, Arroyo took a coaching position with San Jose State as an undergraduate assistant coach in 2003. The next year, he went to Prairie View A&M University where he served as the

. After one season in this capacity, Arroyo returned to San Jose State as a graduate assistant coach under newly hired head coach

Dick Tomey Richard Hastings Tomey (June 20, 1938 – May 10, 2019) was an American football coach and player. Tomey served as the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1977–1986), University of Arizona (1987–2000), and San Jose State ...

. He was promoted to a full-time position in 2006, becoming the Spartans quarterbacks coach. Arroyo added co-offensive coordinator duties in 2007. During his tenure he worked with quarterbacks

Adam Tafralis Adam Gregory Tafralis (born August 30, 1983) is a former professional gridiron football quarterback. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at San Jose State University. He was a ...

and Kyle Reed. After the 2008 season concluded, Arroyo accepted the position of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. He joined the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

as quarterbacks coach in February 2011, adding the title of passing game coordinator prior to the 2012 season. In January 2013, Arroyo was hired by head coach

Todd Monken Todd Robert Monken (born February 5, 1966) is an American football coach who currently serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Georgia. He is also the former offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns ...

as the offensive coordinator and outside receivers coach at

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. In January 2014, he was hired by head coach

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

to coach quarterbacks with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arroyo left Tampa Bay in January 2015 and joined the Oklahoma State University football coaching staff in February 2015 as the running back coach. Marcus was co–offensive coordinator with

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami. Cristobal previously was the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 2007 to 20 ...

for the Oregon Ducks in 2017 under head coach

Willie Taggart Willie Author Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is an American football college coach. He has held the head coach position at five NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky (2009 to 2012 seasons); South Florida (2013 to ...

. He took over full offensive coordinator and play calling duties starting with the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...

on December 16, 2017 under head coach Mario Cristobal. In the 2019, Oregon went 11-2 during the regular season, winning the North division, beating

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the

PAC-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Conference Championship Game. Oregon would finish the post season with a Rose Bowl victory over the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

. This was Arroyo's last game with Oregon before taking over head coaching duties at UNLV.

UNLV

On December 11, 2019, Arroyo was announced as the new head coach of the

UNLV Rebels football The UNLV Rebels football program is a college football team that represents the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The team is a member of the Mountain West Conference, which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferenc ...

program. In his first season as a head coach, he led the Rebels to an 0-6 record. Arroyo remained head coach through 2022, posting a record of 7–23. On November 28, 2022, UNLV fired Arroyo from the head coach position.

Personal life

Born in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, Arroyo grew up in Meadow Vista, California. He is married and has two children.

Head coaching record

References

External links

UNLV profile

Oregon profile

San Jose State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arroyo, Marcus 1980 births Living people American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches Oregon Ducks football coaches Prairie View A&M Panthers football coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches San Jose State Spartans football players San Jose State University alumni Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches People from Placer County, California Players of American football from Sacramento, California Coaches of American football from California