Appalachian State beat Michigan 12 years ago, has UTEP ever beat a Top 25 non-conference opponent? They beat North Carolina and South Carolina this season, UTEP hasn’t beat a P5 team since Ole Miss in 1967 and that was in the Sun Bowl. App St beat 2, on the road, in the same season.
They’re 4-0 in bowl games since moving up and UTEP hasn’t won any since 1967. They also have 3 Conference Championships during that time frame and UTEP has 1 shared one, ever.
It’s just time to stop pretending, it’s never getting better. We suck and will always suck. All these other schools win bowl games and upset P5 opponents. Drop to FCS or just drop it all together.
Or let's not. As Miner fans, we have suffered during football season more than any fan base ever should. Winning seasons have been an incredibly rare appearance in the Far West Texas desert. That said, winning seasons have happened. And they can happen again.
Stull was able to win with Yung's recruits and some key ones of his own (Patrick Heggarty, for example) sprinkled in. No one knows what would have happened if he had stayed. Despite the hatred for him here, Bailey built up a team, Nord was able to take it to a bowl game. Unfortunately, Nord seemed to have lost the respect of his team as his tenure went on. One thing that we learned in hindsight, however: the man knew his to recruit to UTEP.
We found that out with Price. One thing that we eventually also found out with Price: he didn't know how to recruit to UTEP. One other thing: his lack of team discipline caught up to him as the season, and the seasons, wore on.
Each of the coaches mentioned abovd, well, except for Yung and Bailey, brought winning seasons to El Paso. Even Kugler was responsible for a winning season and a bowl game. But, as noted, in between there has been a lot failure. A whole lot of failure.
I believe that there are coaches out there that can both recruit to El Paso, teach their recruits, and maintain the fine line of establishing discipline without being overbearing. We've hired a few that could do some of the above, but we need to hire a coach who can do all of the above.
In order to find this coach the athletic director needs to make sure he does a few things. If he hires someone who has been a head coach before, he needs to hire someone who has had a lot of success as a head coach. We cannot take a chance on a coach who has a poor, or uneven, coaching record. If we hire an assistant, it needs to be a highly respected coordinator from a successful program. While I'm sure that there are several position coaches that would make good head coaches, we don't need to be the school that gives them a chance.
Following the above increases, but doesn't ensure, that we will get a good coach. Once the coach is here, the AD needs to monitor his progress. Is the team losing because of a lack of talent left him from the previous head coach, or is it an issue with discipline, play calling, poor scheme, and/or a lack a preparation. A new coach isn't responsible for the former, but is for all of the latter. As the coach's career continues, his team's progress, or lack thereof, should be monitored and assessed. The AD should not hesitate to take appropriate action on an underperforming coach.
I believe that we have, time and time again, made poor hires for head football coach. We have also been too slow at firing coaches who don't produce. From the way it looks now, Senter made a bad choice on his first hire. Let's hope that he makes a good choice the second time around.
