Has the Sun Bowl ever improved in the Bernie Olivas era?
The Sun Bowl still exists to this day, doesn't it? That's more than some bowls can say.
I'm not saying the Sun Bowl couldn't be better. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, back when there were only a handful of bowl games, the Sun Bowl was able to get two quality big league teams to come to El Paso. Some of the best Sun Bowl games I've attended were during this era, before conference tie-ins, the BCS and the College Football Playoffs.
Today everyone and their mother has a bowl game, with more seemingly being added every year. The product has diluted so much that now 6-6 and 6-7 teams can play in bowl games, and in some cases, even 5-7 teams, neither of which are deserving of a bowl game. In my opinion, if you don't win a minimum of 7 games against FBS opponents, you don't deserve a bowl game.
So how can the Sun Bowl improve? One word - money, and a lot more of it. Even with a network TV contract, corporate sponsorships, and the hotel/motel tax revenue, the Sun Bowl is still regulated to picking 7th in the Pac-12, and who knows where in the ACC (4th or 5th?). To move up in the pecking order, we need to increase the bowl payouts. Of course if that were to ever happen, the bowls above us will respond in-kind. It's like UTEP competing with Alabama, We're never going to out spend them, no matter what.
Oh yeah, Notre Dame landed in our lap back in 2010. Fancy that ever happening again. We actually had one of the most attractive bowl match-ups that season - on paper that is. Notre Dame vs. Miami, the renewal of the Catholics vs. Convicts rivalry. Not only was the game a dud, with Miami not bothering to show up to play, but the weather was freezing cold, around 9 degrees at kickoff. Not exactly promoting the "sun" in Sun Bowl that year! Even Mike Golic, Sr., who played for the Irish, said afterwards on his "Mike and Mike" morning show that the game was "El Crapo".
Let's also be honest about this too. El Paso isn't exactly the most favorable tourist attraction in the country. Most times when our own Chamber of Commerce promotes tourism in El Paso, they promote our close proximity to Mexico. I also honestly believe that when the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio began in 1993, that hurt the Sun Bowl significantly. Where would a conference rather send its teams to, the Sun City or the Alamo City?
As for the halftime entertainment, I could care less about it. I'm not there to watch the damn halftime performance to begin with. I'm there to watch a football game! Hell, why bother paying some who knows what entertainer to perform a 10 minute lip-synced routine? Do I care about Neil Diamond or Rhianna or anyone else for that matter? We use to stage a fine, quality halftime performance with our local high school bands and students. Let's get back to that. Most of the time, the people in the stands are in line to get beer or take a piss anyways.
So should we blame Bernie Olivas for the state of the Sun Bowl? Absolutely not. He can only work with what he has. If anything, he ought to be praised for keeping the game going. I'll still continue to support the Sun Bowl, but we can only hope that some day this bowl madness will be cleaned up. Reduce the number of bowl games, require a minimum of 7 wins against FBS opponents, and eliminate conference bowl tie-ins. Only in a Fringe alternate universe I suppose.