In regards to the recruiting El Paso question, I think that Kugler is trying something different and his idea has some merit. El Paso has always been a hard place to recruit to for many reasons(isolated location, outside perceptions about a border town, etc.) and this inability to consistenly bring top recruits out here has directly related to why we have been a historically bad football program.
But what Kugler is doing is banking on the fact that a 2 star El Paso kid with 5 or 6 years of training and development, can compete with the 3 star players with only 2 or 3 years of college experience. Once El Paso kids sign with UTEP under Kugler, they generally Gray Shirt and stay within the program for the duration. They don't get home sick and leave, and they spend 5 or 6 years developing.
Take Ryan Metz for example, this is now his 5th year since High School and he is barely a Junior. He will essentially be a 6th year Senior next year. What Kugler is doing with El Paso recruiting is kinda using the old BYU model. BYU used to have older players every year because they had players who generally took 2 year missions, Kugler is almost doing the same thing with the best local El Paso kids who he thinks has the most growth potential.
Another example; look at Wells last year, he led the state of Texas in sacks but didn't get a lot of recruiting interest. He could have qualified to play this season, but instead, Kugler signed him and Gray Shirted him. Next year he will be eligible to red shirt and he could potentially be in his 3rd year of development and training before he even see's the field as a Freshman in two years. The same thing has happened with Javaugn Thomas, Chris Barnwell, Eddie Sinegal, Cutter Leftwich, Richie Rodriguez, Mark Torres, De Haro, etc., etc., etc.
This is a long-term approach and naturally it will take some time to see if it works but I think the theory makes a lot of sense.
It has been roughly 70 years since a UTEP Coach has had a winning season here AND every player on his roster was a player that he recruited(Price only won with mostly Nord's players, Nord only won with Bailey's players, Stull only won with mostly Yung's players, etc.) So I give Kugler credit for trying something different and trying something at a level that previous coaches haven't tried. If it fails then at least we know that something new was tried and it didn't work here. We can check it off the list of things to try and we can thank Kugler for not just doing the same things that have never worked here. I also appreciate that Kugler has stayed dedicated to seeing this long-term plan out and not abandoning ship mid-way through when pressure built. We just have to keep trying these different ideas until we can finally find a formula that can consistently win here.
