What has UTEP Athletics accomplished? Absolutely Nothing.

[Firstdowndash]

When was the last time UTEP won a bowl game?

When was the last time UTEP won an NCAA tournament game?

How do you define success? It seems like UTEP is a below average athletics program whose claim to fame is a National Championship from 50 years ago. Nothing wrong with being proud of the 1966 title, but enough is enough, can we at least shoot for a conference title? Is asking for consistent NCAA appearances with a couple of wins, too much to ask for? Can we get a top 25 ranking at least once in a blue moon? Let's keep in mind we play in CUSA, AKA Sun Belt USA, we aren't asking for much when you factor the dump of a conference we play in. Enough with the mediocrity, time to make some changes.

This post was edited on 3/1 1:30 AM by Nugget 07

 

[El Paso Chihuahuas]

Preach!

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

Ya preach!! Everyone preaches change but no one has any real solutions...who would you replace floyd with? Would you be happy if utep is a swinging door for coaches.? How does utep recruit better being a million miles away from anything relevant, in the conference we are in? It's funny all the people preaching it's time to end the mediocrity are the first people saying they aren't supporting the program by not going to the last two games of the utep basketball season or when utep football isn't doing what they want

You people talk change but not sure you understand what that really means...the more support this team gets the more power the fans have...being bandwagon fans does not help at all..

 

[Ronstr300]

I'll throw in my 4 pesos....

You REALLY want to get into this discussion once again? Fine I'll play....

First of all, it's total BS that we can't afford to pay the coaches more. Stull chooses to be tight so that the program as a whole does well financially. I saw the report last year where our athletic department makes millions in profit. So yeah....

Have you noticed all the big money games we've been playing in football each year? That's not chump change...

Going on the BS theory we can't afford to pay more, Why not go the route of up and coming assistant coaches again? We were making the tournament and paying them less than Floyd. Making tournament money, bigger crowds at the Don, more merchandise sales and overall better program. So where's the negative? Oh yeah, we have to replace a coach every few years. I think I'm ok with that.

So you and countless others claim we need to keep supporting our miners financially to ensure our success. WTF kind of logic is that? So we keep tossing money for merchandise, tickets, and donations to let them play like crap and have no post season for what? How does that help UTEP? Let's see....Price kept getting an easy pay check for 9 years all while losing each year and we are supposed to be supportive and let them keep him and pay him? Yeah, that sounds smart. So now Timmy is under achieving by everyone's standards and we are supposed to fill the Don and yell rah rah? I'm sorry, but that kind of thinking is flat out STUPID! Expecting us to give our money towards programs that lose only benefits UTEP's bottom line. They have no reason to strive to improve because the idiot fans will still pay the bills. Stop buying tickets, stop going to games, stop buying merchandise and then Stull is FORCED to make changes or he will lose a buttload of money for the program. Think of it this way....If you owned a burger joint and your burgers sucked, if people kept coming in to buy them and you still made a good profit, why would you change the burgers? But if your business (sales) declined dramatically, wouldn't you need to make changes to get the sales? Seems pretty easy to me...

Look everyone, I LOVE UTEP. I will always support them. I think Stull does the university and the fans a disservice by holding on to his friends/coaches so long and not making them accountable. Passing it off as poor poor UTEP can't do any better, is crap! Want us to support more? Do what's in our team's best interest. Not your buddies pockets.

Change isn't always good or bad. But sometimes change is needed. Like today.....

 

[Firstdowndash]

Re: I'll throw in my 4 pesos....

Well said Ron! I myself am not advocating boycotts but people need to stop complaining of poor attendance, it's poor because the product sucks. It's sucked for way too long.

What sucks even more is that newer business (Boise, Tulsa, etc.) keep passing us by while we stay the same. Perhaps the change we need is at the Athletic Director position. Yes, he has done a lot but we have to run this as a business, and what he did for us in the past doesn't matter in business, it's what are you doing for us now, that matters.

 

[Minerforlife]

Re: I'll throw in my 4 pesos....

Yeah its infuriating. We have money more money than any school in cusa. The argument that we are a poor school doesnt hold water.

We are in a very precarious situation. Stull misplayed the last round of realignment badly. We were left out in the cold and our posistion has suffered greatly. We cant afford anymore screwups.Dont look now but but UTSA and Texas State are positioning themselves as a package deal for the AAC or MWC. If Stull doesnt get on the ball there is a real chance these newcomers could pass us too. It pisses me off that we are even in this posision to be playing UNT and UTSA. What pisses me off more is the total lack of leadership and incompetency shown by Stull during realignment.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

Re: I'll throw in my 4 pesos....

See we are looking at things from a totally different angle..... Why do I want you to support win or lose?

My main reasoning is I believe the college landscape is once again going to change....if you are an outside conference looking to add utep what looks better??

20k for football?
5k for basketball??

Or 40k for football
And say around 8k for bball.....

I also believe the more we support th more power the fans have....say you have an average attendance of 8k and people get pissed off and it drops to 6k no big deal, it could be blamed on a million different things and it doesn't hurt that much.....however if you have an average attendance over 10k and it drops to 6k that's almost cutting things in half which would definitely raise eyebrows....my whole point is support the team like hell until a boiling point comes and I am sorry but having a team with 19 wins is not a boiling point...I understand and am dissapointed by floyds performance thus far however you have to understand he still has the chance this year to better his win total from last year which he has done every year he has been here...that is not a boiling point.... Sure it's not as fast as what people would like but it's still trending upward...and far from a program like southern miss who used to be good in football and basketball but have fallen apart...

Also I think you make it easier on floyd to recruit better if your school averages 10k rowdy fans....

Everything is connected we can't demand a fix if we are also part of the problem.....and I know someone will come in here and say look we lead conference usa in attendance and my response to that is simple...I in no way ever want to judge our team by conference usa standards...I want and expect better....sometimes patience and the ability to deal and go through adversity is the best thing you can do.....

I know it won't happen but what kind of message could El Paso send to its basketball team if they came for their home game and they had a packed house? It would tell the team through thick and thin we got your back let's get this shit rolling and take care of business .....it would say El Paso is united in its love for utep basketball and it would put more pressure on the coaches in my opinion to deliver!! Let's make the coaches answer to 10-12k fans instead of e 6k we will probably have...


Power is always in numbers!
This post was edited on 3/1 1:44 PM by PURPLEFIRE

Also when conferences do change again I don't want anyone having ANY dirt on us why we shouldn't be considered ..

This post was edited on 3/1 2:59 PM by PURPLEFIRE

 

[Free State Miner]

Re: I'll throw in my 4 pesos....

"I saw the report last year where our athletic department makes millions in profit".... Wow that is amazing...what report are you referring to? I truly find it hard to believe that UTEP or any other mid level schools are in the black. And to think, I that thought Stull and Co were doing a great job on a shoe string budget.

 

[shyminer81]

Yet, UTEP has had decent attendance for the better part of 10 years.. Better than Houston, Tulsa, SMU, yet they all moved up... It's right Stull wanted to align with the "Texas" schools and they said, sorry but we could care less... and bolted, and left the Miners behind... UTEP needs to get into the MWC! No question about it, sadly there isn't an opening unless BYU wants back in.

 

[Minerinciter]

UTEP is even behind in renovations of their basketball arenas. SMU upgraded Moody Coliseum, Houston is upgrading Hofheinz Pavilion as we speak. Except for the new video boards, the DHC still looks like a late '70s arena. Even NMSU upgraded the Pan Am Center.

 

[Tribalwarriorx]

Shyminer, you touched on the most valid point there is and that's UTEP moving up and into the MWC. Hawaii's financial problems aren't disappearing anytime soon. These two programs could easily switch. However, the bigger question is if UTEP's administration wants to invest in the program and raise the school's profile.

I've said from the start, just because you're a small school doesn't mean you have to act like it.

 

[nattybry]

Except Hawaii is a football only member, so utep basketball would go where exactly?

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

The MWC has 12 for football and only 11 for basketball so if Hawaii left the conference and UTEP was added, they would have 12 for both sports. Perfect. But I doubt Hawaii will leave.

 

[LTMiner61]

IMO there are only a few true accomplishments in the Stull era. First, he wrestled away the Sun Bowl from the county which was a good move. Only problem is, there's not been enough done to improve the structure other than the new score boards and selling beer at games. Secondly, the Durham Center was built but it's been over 10 years now and what's been added since then to "keep up with the Jones' in football recruiting?

He's also added a much needed academic support structure to assist athletes and a NCAA compliance office. In basketball, the practice facility was a great addition but the Haskins Center is antiquated and worn out in need of major renovation - not just new flooring, video and score boards. In other sports, the softball field was constructed and Kidd Field has been renovated but neither sport bring in the bacon.

I'm sure I'm missing a few other major things, maybe others can help.

GO MINERS!

 

[jdubb66]

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Originally posted by LTMiner61:
IMO there are only a few true accomplishments in the Stull era. First, he wrestled away the Sun Bowl from the county which was a good move. Only problem is, there's not been enough done to improve the structure other than the new score boards and selling beer at games. Secondly, the Durham Center was built but it's been over 10 years now and what's been added since then to "keep up with the Jones' in football recruiting?

He's also added a much needed academic support structure to assist athletes and a NCAA compliance office. In basketball, the practice facility was a great addition but the Haskins Center is antiquated and worn out in need of major renovation - not just new flooring, video and score boards. In other sports, the softball field was constructed and Kidd Field has been renovated but neither sport bring in the bacon.

I'm sure I'm missing a few other major things, maybe others can help.

GO MINERS!

 

[colominer]

"First of all, it's total BS that we can't afford to pay
the coaches more. Stull chooses to be tight so that the program as a
whole does well financially. I saw the report last year where our
athletic department makes millions in profit."

I don't know what this means. College athletic departments are non-profit. They can either spend the money they bring in or save it somewhere. There are no shareholders to pay dividends. Are you saying UTEP athletics is socking away millions of dollars into an account somewhere? There should be some public record of that.

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

No school in a G5 conference makes a profit on their athletic department. UTEP does ok but is not swimming in money. It receives about half of its athletic budget from student fees and directly from school funds. That is not profit because all G5 and some P5 athletic departments are subsidized to some extent.

This site collects athletic department financial info from all public schools. Those schools are obligated to provide this info to the ncaa. The site also describes it's methodology.

This post was edited on 3/5 7:36 AM by MinerInWisconsin

finances

 

[Free State Miner]

Thanks...interesting data. I understand that numbers don't always tell the right story but this report shows UTEP is breaking even, not really making millions in profit as previously posted. Compared to our neighbors to the north in LC, we are worse off but I'd rather be in our shoes than theirs.

 

[Minerforlife]

The money thats is not raised via student fees is raised from boosters and sponsors. In Texas it is illegall to use state money for athletics so we dont take any money from the university.

New Mexico State's budget is bigger because the state of New Mexico subsidizes the athletic programs of unm abd nmsu. They annually run a multi million dollar deficit at NMSU and have to use the schools general fund to bail them out. There are many lawmakers in Santa Fe who are very upset by this. New Mexico is a poor state and with oil revenues falling, the state will have to make cuts. There is a decent chance nmsu football gets axed.

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

Well the report shows $11 million in school funds and $3.7 million in student fees. Whatever the school funds really is, it's not ticket sales (that's reported as $3 million, or contributions (reported as $3 million, or rights fees (reported as $5.3 millions).

If the $11 million is not directly from school funds then perhaps it's what is spent on athletic scholarships and is being waved by the university and that value is being reported as funds from the school. That would be semantics though because that would be funds the school would normally take in.

 

[Tribalwarriorx]

No matter how much money they've made or have, UTEP Admin needs to decide if it's going to invest in the program and increase it's chances for success and raise the school's profile. Winning can do a lot of that on it's own and ignite a fan base, but the school has to develop an innovative marketing platform for the program to coincide with everything else.

UTEP football had it's best season in years last season. It should be even better this season. Either way, there should be a strategy in place to push that forward.

 

[centex-miner]

No matter how much money they've made or have, UTEP Admin needs to decide if it's going to invest in the program and increase it's chances for success and raise the school's profile. Winning can do a lot of that on it's own and ignite a fan base, but the school has to develop an innovative marketing platform for the program to coincide with everything else.

UTEP football had it's best season in years last season. It should be even better this season. Either way, there should be a strategy in place to push that forward.

This thread is 8 years old but seems to still be applicable, Unfortunately.

 

[JCorona]

But when Fili does it… double standards much anyone?

 

[jdubb66]

I think we're more consistently competitive in Football. I think we were "in" most games last year which is more than I can say for previous years. I believe we have a really good basketball coach and our girls team is a consistent winner as well.