Today, Tony Minatta is a Division I women’s soccer coach at Iowa State.

In college, though, he was a higher-up for one of the first nightclubs on the Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I got into an argument with Justin Timberlake once at a Fat Burger outside the nightclub,” Minatta said.

That was just one of the stories that came out of Minatta’s job he had while attending the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV).

Britney Spears, NSYNC and Timberlake had gone to the restaurant and ordered a big amount of food, while Minatta just wanted to get back to work.

“The whole place shut down, and we were just trying to get our food and go back to work,” Minatta said. “There was communication back and forth between their body guards and my security staff.”

Minatta and his security staff had been taking a break from working at Club Utopia.

Club Utopia, located north of the MGM Grand building, first opened its doors in 1996. At the time, it was one of the first four nightclubs that were open on the Strip, which would eventually become the standard for nightlife in the country.

Minatta was a bartending manager at the club. To put it simply, everything that went on involving the club went through Minatta, and he would bartend at the same time.

He kept the inventory of all the alcohol that came in and out of the facility, worked on the scheduling, had a say in nearly everything the employees were doing and a say in any issues they had.

“There were a lot of employee issues,” Minatta said. “There’s a lot of things that can go on.”

On any given night the club would see 3,000 people because of how big it is inside.

Minatta was responsible for all of it.

“I was responsible for all of the other bartenders, cocktail waitresses and barbacks,” Minatta said. “I counted the money to make sure it was all there. If anything was off, it was my responsibility.”

The club was like any other and would do theme nights, host watch parties for certain shows and at times, birthday parties for some higher profile celebrities.

Some of the celebrities Minatta saw walk in the club include the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Shaquille O’Neal, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and the band Korn.

On one particular night, Utopia hosted the Black Entertainment Television Awards’ (BET) after party.

“That was the who’s who of athletes, celebrities and rappers,” Minatta said.

Club Utopia was also featured on “Wild On,” which was a TV show on E! – the entertainment channel – that followed a celebrity around while they experienced the culture, food and nightlife in different parts of the world.

On one episode, Minatta is featured in the background making drinks for a customer.

“She did her show right in front of me while I was bartending,” Minatta said. “It was a crazy time.”

Minatta once met the entire cast of Real World – the longest episodic television series in MTV history.

Today, there are more than 30 clubs on the famous street in Las Vegas and even though Club Utopia isn’t one of them, Minatta and company influenced one of the biggest landmarks in the United States.

The club went out of business in 2001, due to a lack of money.

“Once the casinos realized nightclubs were becoming a big thing, they all started popping up,” Minatta said. “They got pushed out.”

Before Minatta would put down the shot glasses, he had one more stop to make. His friend was opening up a bar in the Aladdin Hotel, and wanted Minatta to help run the ship.

“He didn’t have the money to back it,” Minatta said. “He gambled big and lost.”

The bar was out of business in six months, and Minatta was on his way to graduating. He turned to coaching and became a soccer coach at Fort Collins and currently is the head coach for the Iowa State women’s soccer team. 

As for his time in Las Vegas, Minatta used three words to describe his time in Vegas.

“It was crazy.”