In a city built on gambling, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas is betting heavily that Marcus Arroyo can do what few have managed before him and make the Rebels football team a consistent winner, someday.

It won’t happen this year as the 0-5 Rebels prepare to close out the COVID-19 abbreviated season Saturday against Hawaii as 20½-point underdogs at Aloha Stadium.

But UNLV has made a significant long-term investment in the 40-year old, first-time head coach who just 20 years ago was a sophomore quarterback at San Jose State slinging touchdowns in competition with Timmy Chang and Nick Rolovich in a 57-48 victory over UH.

With a five-year deal that averages $1.5 million per season, plus generous bonus incentives and raises for assistant coaches, UNLV is making the biggest wager in its athletic history that Arroyo can turn around a program that has managed but one winning season in 19 years.

It is believed to be the most ever paid in the Mountain West Conference for a rookie head coach and two and a half times what Arroyo’s predecessor, Tony Sanchez, was given.

By comparison, UH head coach Todd Graham, who is in his 13th season and fifth school as a head coach, has a salary ($760,000) almost half that of Arroyo’s.

Arroyo’s contract is but one example of the huge money that has gone into trying to fortify the UNLV program in the past year. Arroyo’s introductory press conference last December was in the $34.8 million Fertitta Football Complex on campus that is a 73,000-square foot home to football offices, meeting rooms, training facilities, dining hall and a nutrition center.

And, this season the Rebels began playing in the $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium. As a condition of the government’s $750 million tax bond expenditure to build the stadium, the Rebels will share it with the Raiders.

“Infrastructure is huge … it is the key to the life blood of the program,” Arroyo said during Monday’s media Zoom call. “I was drawn to what they have done in the athletic department, what (athletic director) Desiree (Reed-Francois) has done to put this thing in motion. I was drawn to the opportunity.”

Arroyo came to UNLV from Oregon, where he had been the Ducks’ offensive coordinator, after stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as Oklahoma State, Southern Mississippi, Cal, Wyoming, Prairie View A&M and San Jose State.

It was with the Spartans that he first caught Reed-Francois’ attention as an up-and-coming talent to keep an eye on.

The Rebels’ past hirings have run the gamut. Sanchez was a high school coach from down the road at nationally known Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas with an 85-5 record. John Robinson was a Hall of Fame coach who had won a national championship at USC and coached the Rams. Bobby Hauck took Montana to three Football Championship Subdivision national title games. Jeff Horton was lured away from upstate rival Nevada.

Yet none of them could win consistently. The last coach who left UNLV with a winning record at the school was Tony Knap, whose tenure (1976-81) bridged the jump from Division II to Division I.

Arroyo said, “I’ve been around long enough to know that none of these (rebuilds) are easy and I’m not into that. But I see a place that has great people in it. It has got some great infrastructure. There is a commitment that is here in this building, in this stadium and athletic department that drew me in. All those things are something I thought was attractive and exciting.”

At UNLV, where winning football has been a desert mirage for decades, the money is on Arroyo.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.