I’ve often wondered why UTEP has always been left behind by past conference mates. Also why past conference mates have then moved up to Power Conferences. The easy answer is, cause UTEP is in El Paso. However I think there’s more to it than just that. Whether it’s teams like Arizona and Arizona St. old Border Conference mates, to BYU, Utah, TCU, SMU, UCF, Houston to Power Conferences or teams from the old WAC and CUSA leaving us behind. I think it’s a combination of things. Smallish TV Market, Historically Bad Football, No Commitment to sports excellence from President and AD and not enough donor support. I believe El Paso has one of the most loyal fan bases for the trash we’ve been served over the last 30 years. It’d be wonderful to get a commitment for excellence from the President, AD and Donors. UTSA passed us in no time and I think will eventually be in the Big 12. It’s just sad to see all the teams that were conference foes and where they are now. I think watching Houston as a #1 seed yet again made me post this, cause I remember not too long ago they were right a long side us smh 🤦🏽
Something I’ve always wondered about Utep?
- Thread starter nattybry
- Start date
I think you make a fair point. UTEP is in no man’s land and that obviously is a big time obstacle. But at the same time, it’s 2025. You can get to El Paso on a direct flight from Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Vegas, Houston, LA, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, and Long Beach. From a geographical standpoint we are isolated but air travel has definitely made travel that much easier.
Nowadays it’s more about money and decades of losing more than anything else. Schools like Houston and out other 2005 CUSA foes all made a serious financial commitment to athletics while UTEP has laid back, cried poverty and made poor hire after poor hire. And there are people that still want to say Bob Stull was a good AD while we were getting passed up by EVERYONE.
This is 100% on the AD, President and Coaches. From the outside they look to be content to make their money with 0 pressure of termination. How many programs operate under this model and are successful?
I’ll give the alumni credit for suffering through decades of trash athletics. I think many of us here are the very passionate few and a lot of us donate our hard earned money to help but the donor pool needs to expand greatly in order for us to move up, especially in today’s NIL driven world.
Nowadays it’s more about money and decades of losing more than anything else. Schools like Houston and out other 2005 CUSA foes all made a serious financial commitment to athletics while UTEP has laid back, cried poverty and made poor hire after poor hire. And there are people that still want to say Bob Stull was a good AD while we were getting passed up by EVERYONE.
This is 100% on the AD, President and Coaches. From the outside they look to be content to make their money with 0 pressure of termination. How many programs operate under this model and are successful?
I’ll give the alumni credit for suffering through decades of trash athletics. I think many of us here are the very passionate few and a lot of us donate our hard earned money to help but the donor pool needs to expand greatly in order for us to move up, especially in today’s NIL driven world.
Timing, lack of football success, and lack of D1 athletes in El Paso are why UTEP has been passed up. Location doesn’t help either. El Paso is far from everything. Yes “only” an 8 hour drive to Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, give or take, but how many major cities are 8 hour drives away from Chicago, Philadelphia, and so on?
Timing is mostly everything though. UTEP is only in the MWC because of timing. UTEP would have been an attractive school in and around 1988. Just as they were in 2004.
Going forward, if UTEP has a solid run for a few years in the MWC, they could potentially be a candidate for the Pac-12. That’s it though, that’s their ceiling. Even then, it’s not that much of an upgrade right now.
Timing is mostly everything though. UTEP is only in the MWC because of timing. UTEP would have been an attractive school in and around 1988. Just as they were in 2004.
Going forward, if UTEP has a solid run for a few years in the MWC, they could potentially be a candidate for the Pac-12. That’s it though, that’s their ceiling. Even then, it’s not that much of an upgrade right now.
I agree, PAC 12 would be great and definitely our ceiling, but who’s taking 8 hours to Phoenix? Are you driving a John Deere? lol 😆
Last edited:
I don’t see much changing. Not because I’m being negative but because I have yet to see any ambition from the donor base and from the administration. We’ve got schools starting football programs hiring big name coaches supported by a war chest of cash.
Now that we’re moving to the MWC are the donors lining up to give big money? Is the donor pool expanding? If the mediocrity continues is the fan base going to demand change? And even if we did will the administration listen?
More than likely we’ll go to the MWC and get beat up like the kid with glasses and asthma at recess.
All this focus on the "donor base"
Almost as of the expectation is the "rich donors" pitch in while everyone else just chips in here and there. Very El Paso like.
We've dug this hole ourselves because, if you think about it, with the amount of alumni from 2000-present, how many of them are invested in giving back to the athletic program, let alone the university (or their college)? How many are able to, at minimum, donate $9.15/month? If they all did that or at least 1/2 the budget would be helped and we would be in a good position year after year to climb up to MW standards.
No one gives a toss about buying tickets for a losing season, causing revenue to go down, and the vicious cycle of the "poverty program" mentality to exist.
"I don't want to give money to a losing program" Well, how do you expect that program to thrive and survive in this environment when all of those universities that have surpassed us, still have revenue coming in even in poor seasons, and don't rely on the "sugar daddies" that are the boosters. That's how we've fallen behind, even in piss poor seasons, if we had at minimum near sellouts for every game, we would be in a much better position than we are now.
Next we're going to have the other circular argument of "rising ticket prices". Outside of the basics like lighting, grounds keeping staff, building maintenance, etc, you have to have $$$ to retain coaches and their staff.
Last edited:
I went ahead and edited my previous post since you seem to have missed my point. If I am asking if the donor pool is expanding, that means I’m not putting it all on “rich donors” doesn’t it? I didn’t say anything about putting it on the rich donors did I? You must have read the previous sentence about money, thought of a nice pontification while failing to read the next sentence. UTEP does need to expand the donor base, that’s obvious.
Normal people do not continue to patronize restaurants that give them bad service or food or both. Essentially what some people are asking of blue collar people, is to not only buy tickets, but to also contribute on top of that. For their “reward” to be wins over San Jose St, Wyoming, and UC Davis.
With those ticket and concession prices going up every year. To show the AD we’re happy and content with his coaching hires and scheduling.
Not happening pal.
We’ve talked about this ad nauseam, but there is such a disconnect from this university and the public. Why not present a 5 year plan for the athletic department with certain benchmarks they want to meet and the money they feel they need to attain those goals. That way if you don’t hit those goals you can at least say it’s a money issue. But that would mean the coaches and administrators would have to be held accountable based on their performance.
I haven’t paid much attention to UTEP athletics in some time. I heard a little about a move to the MWC, but didn’t think much of it (didn’t think it would happen). I now see why it’s happening, since they’ll be gutted by the PAC12 next year.
My question is this— is UTEP paying to switch conferences? If so, it shows the continuation of poor decision making by the Athletic Dept. At this point both conferences are on the same level, with CUSA potentially having more “upside”. I’m using upside lightly, since both will be glorified FCS level conferences in 2026.
How is the fanbase reacting? Does anyone even care at this point?
UTEP has to pay CUSA to leave and also has to pay the MWC to enter. How much of that UTEP will actually pay is unknown.
It’s like 99 to 1 the amount of fans that are excited about leaving CUSA and joining the MWC. I’ve seen very few people be upset about the move.
The Pac 12 didn’t leave the MWC for dead though. UNM, Nevada, UNLV, and Air Force are great opponents, especially when compared to CUSA.
Do facilities even matter anymore?
I think if we had an outdoor playground court and $24 million in NIL money, we could win CUSA
I think if we had an outdoor playground court and $24 million in NIL money, we could win CUSA
I’m not sure why you’re on here if u don’t care at all to pay attention, but hopefully you come back to Miner Fandom. It’s tough I know, but it’s called being a True Fan. With that being said, No you’re off on almost everything you said. Move will more than quadruple our TV money going to MWC, Foster donated 2.5 million for the move and almost all of Miner Fans are excited for the move even though you don’t care. The concern is whether we can be competitive or not, not whether we should’ve moved. Lastly No CUSA Does Not Have The Most Upside!
Last edited:
I don’t
I’ll say the MWC might be a little better for bball, but probably a 1 bid league still. But when I say upside, I see the MWC having more established teams who we know where they’re at in terms of potential. CUSA has a couple that could grow into something (like we saw with many teams in earlier CUSA versions). I don’t think it’s likely, I’m just saying there’s more potential for a couple CUSA teams to break out from the pack and continue growing their programs
I don’t know anything about the TV deals, but quadruple seems pretty high. I’d be curious to know how long it’ll take for that extra revenue to even out the exit/entry fees. When does that tv deal expire? Because I guarantee it will not be worth near as much when it gets renewed.
I’ll say the MWC might be a little better for bball, but probably a 1 bid league still. But when I say upside, I see the MWC having more established teams who we know where they’re at in terms of potential. CUSA has a couple that could grow into something (like we saw with many teams in earlier CUSA versions). I don’t think it’s likely, I’m just saying there’s more potential for a couple CUSA teams to break out from the pack and continue growing their programs
Utep gets $750,000 right now. The current MWC TV Deal will in fact be done by the time Utep gets there. The new deal and combination of reduced teams is estimated to be about $3.5 million to $4 million for Utep so I’ll let you pull out the calculator on that.
Crazy thing is if you fire a coach and pay buyouts to his staff while bringing a new regime that could be a nice chunk of that 4 million right there. Postseason play, a packed house and the revenue associated might be a bigger economic windfall for the university. But we all know you have to spend money to make money.
I want to hold out hope that games vs the old WAC opponents will bring the fans out but maybe that’s wishful thinking. These rivalries have been on ice for over 25 years and there are several generations of Miner fans who don’t remember the vitriol we had for some of those schools.
I sometimes wonder if we also underestimate the political beating that el paso takes on the national media. I'm sure coaches from other programs use that to scare athletes when they are recruiting against UTEP - Make them (and parents) believe that El Paso is dangerous or under siege. People that haven't lived in El Paso or spent much time in the city sometimes believe that stuff. Look at that lady that shot the Uber driver after believing she was being kidnapped to Mexico. Look at the mass shooter. Don't think that stuff and El Paso"s portrayal doesn't affect recruitment.
I also think that his sort of stuff influences people like Senter. They don't believe that the city deserves better. "Just do the bare minimum to tame/placate the natives" type of thinking.
I'm not blaming UTEP's failures on these factors alone. UTEP has done enough to screw itself, but I do think the things I describe above play some sort of role.
I also think that his sort of stuff influences people like Senter. They don't believe that the city deserves better. "Just do the bare minimum to tame/placate the natives" type of thinking.
I'm not blaming UTEP's failures on these factors alone. UTEP has done enough to screw itself, but I do think the things I describe above play some sort of role.
It’s possible, but you also hear players consistently state that El Paso was not what they expected, and it exceeded their expectations. One thing Walden has done very well is bringing tons of kids and their families to El Paso letting them see for themselves. You’ve got to have a good salesman who can talk about the positives because let’s be real every city has their negatives.
Waleen definitely seems to be making a difference in selling the city. Hopefully, we see the results this year
Majority of the blame falls on Wilson and especially SENTER. The fanbase will donate more and show up, when UTEP does better. It's that simple. UTEP has to invest first, not EP doing the "donating" first.
Didn't Las Vegas have the biggest mass shooting in US history along with a higher crime rate than El Paso? I really doubt that keeps recruits away from UNLV.
Virginia Tech had a mass shooting on campus. I really doubt it is affecting their football recruiting.
Albuquerque isn't exactly known as a safe haven.
One key factor in the MWC move is the proximity to other universities. The University will save big money traveling teams to Albuquerque and Phoenix than it will to Lynchburg, VA and Miami, FL.
Fans will be more likely to travel to Las Vegas than to Huntsville, AL for a conference tournament
Last edited:
Must've forgotten back in '10 (or whenever it was) when Juarez really went bad, even a bullet hit campus. We survived that....
Stray bullet at UTEP prompts call for more border security
Texas Gov. Rick Perry called again Mondayfor the federal government to step up border security afterofficials said at least one stray bullet from a weekend shootout inMexico hit a University of Texas-El Paso building.
www.khou.com
Walden is showing that he can sell UTEP for sure though
I think it has more to do with lousy coaching hires over the years (decades)than the “El Paso is hard to recruit” excuse. Terry was known as a great recruiter and he brought talent here and had something like a top 25 recruiting class in his first season here. Walden is a good recruiter and he is able to bring in talent to El Paso. BG and Barbee brought in talent here. This shows it’s possible to recruit to El Paso if the coach is worth a shit.
Last edited:
100%, but this also goes back to accountability from the AD and the president. They’re content to let bad hires lose and lose and lose some more. Kugler and Dimel got WAY too much time. We should have heard something about Golding’s imminent termination but the longer this goes he may be staying. And when basketball season starts they better not be surprised when the Don is empty.
I don’t think it’s “He may be staying” The El Paso Times Article I put this to bed. Also I think most of us have already said it’s too late unless he leaves of his own accord or for another job.
It’s not “too late”, but not ideal if they keep delaying it. He’s coming back, very unlikely he’s not. We’ll just have to see if he got an underserved extension or not.
No they haven't. My basketball season tickets decreased. Concession prices have been the same for years.
And what happens to those restaurants? They close … so keep not supporting and you reap what you sow
It’s so simple
You all want fine upscale dining at McDonald’s prices …
Nobody is asking for fine upscale dining at McDonalds price. Nobody is expecting Kentucky or Texas Tech results with our program and budget.
NMSU made many NCAA tournaments and beat UTEP on a regular basis. Their coach wanted to be the head coach here. UTEP isn’t Mississippi Valley St.
Going 15 years in between NCAA tournaments is unacceptable and only twice have they made the tournament final. That is the closest they’ve been. None of those 15 teams were close to getting an at-large bid.
Idk what route you’re taking to Phoenix but it’s always been a 6 hour drive to me at the most. And that includes stops in Lordsburg and Benson.
