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Because most of the BCS schools we play are also cream-of-the-crop BCS schools, like this season playing eleventh-ranked Texas.There is schools that are just like UTEP that are competitive. Bob Stull and Dr Natalicio could care less as long has they getting those big checks. Anyone else tired of Utep getting beat 44-7 and so on and not even putting up a fight?
You must not have watched the game. It was very close in the 1st half. Utep played with bad field position the whole game. Kugler took his starters out in the 3rd qtr after 27-7, cause this game meant nothing in respect to the season and conference. On top of that, Texas is much improved and might win the Big 12 this year, so not the beat year to face themThere is schools that are just like UTEP that are competitive. Bob Stull and Dr Natalicio could care less as long has they getting those big checks. Anyone else tired of Utep getting beat 44-7 and so on and not even putting up a fight?
LNice post Mosquito. But, you left out one major historical fact: When, in the 60's, we exploded with a First Round Pick, All american Players and a National Championship against a Southern Legend School in basketball as well as All American Players, two Bowl wins (against Southern schools) and record breaking performances in football...not to mention that Track and Field had National Championships and All American, record setters galore during the same period...we were effectively shutdown and blackballed by the powers that be. Like in the Godfather Movies, they sicked the Media Dogs (particularly Sports Illustrated) on us and destroyed all of our programs. It was worse then the "Death Penalty" SMU suffered for institutional cheating. What they did was trump up a false narrative of systemic racism in our community, school and coaching staff. Yes, little old El Paso was painted as a hotbed of Racism and Intolerance so horrible that no self-respecting Student Athlete would be caught dead signing a LOI to attend UTEP. The truly ironic component to this was (and is) that the South was in the midst of a Civil Rights War with the rest of the country so that they could continue to suppress their Black Citizens. Kentucky, Mississippi, TCU, all the schools we beat and set off all the alarms off on, now have their pick of the elite Black Athlete! Every season that I see the Southern schools (Alabama, Kentucky, et al) dominate the sports scene I remember what happened during the 60's. Look it up.
Bottom line is win and win consistently. People will show up for 13-10 victories if there are 8-10 of them a year. People won't show up for a bunch of 65-50 losses. We saw that at the end of the Price era.El Paso is growing, and to a degree transforming thanks in large part to Foster and Hunt, so perhaps UTEP can too?
One thing that can be transformational is a great coach. I like Kugler, but I think El Paso fans would respond better to a spread-type, high-scoring, pass-oriented offense. Water under the bridge and/or a pipe dream, but a hire like Leach with his Air Raid would have been a home run here. There are lots of good, young offensive coordinators out there. I know the concern is they would leave if they won here, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The narrative is similar for basketball...
Agree 100% I was just thinking football when I posted.Nice post Mosquito. But, you left out one major historical fact: When, in the 60's, we exploded with a First Round Pick, All american Players and a National Championship against a Southern Legend School in basketball as well as All American Players, two Bowl wins (against Southern schools) and record breaking performances in football...not to mention that Track and Field had National Championships and All American, record setters galore during the same period...we were effectively shutdown and blackballed by the powers that be. Like in the Godfather Movies, they sicked the Media Dogs (particularly Sports Illustrated) on us and destroyed all of our programs. It was worse then the "Death Penalty" SMU suffered for institutional cheating. What they did was trump up a false narrative of systemic racism in our community, school and coaching staff. Yes, little old El Paso was painted as a hotbed of Racism and Intolerance so horrible that no self-respecting Student Athlete would be caught dead signing a LOI to attend UTEP. The truly ironic component to this was (and is) that the South was in the midst of a Civil Rights War with the rest of the country so that they could continue to suppress their Black Citizens. Kentucky, Mississippi, TCU, all the schools we beat and set off all the alarms off on, now have their pick of the elite Black Athlete! Every season that I see the Southern schools (Alabama, Kentucky, et al) dominate the sports scene I remember what happened during the 60's. Look it up.
No.Just look at NMSU terrible football program, but they beat Minnesota a few years ago. They will probably beat Kentucky saturday. The cats are circling the drain quickly.
True, however young up an comers are never a sure bet, nor is the style they promote, they are gambles at most and true the reward can be huge if you hire a great one, but if you get a bad one (see UNM with Locksey) you can set your program back 10 years. You also run into the fact if he is really good you have to hang on to him, which quite frankly UTEP has little resources to accomplish this. A known quantity coach like PRICE or LEACH may be available once in while, but timing seldom works out. Finally most quality coordinators are out of our price range or we are out of their comfort zone (which means they feel the challenges at a place like UTEP are too great to risk a promising career). Bottom line anyone a school like UTEP hires is a gamble, and some come with a few positives or negatives but they are still a gamble. Leach would have never come to UTEP, he had just got ran out of town by a bunch of West Texas yokels in Lubbock and he wasn't going to repeat that at a school lower on the totem pole like UTEP.El Paso is growing, and to a degree transforming thanks in large part to Foster and Hunt, so perhaps UTEP can too?
One thing that can be transformational is a great coach. I like Kugler, but I think El Paso fans would respond better to a spread-type, high-scoring, pass-oriented offense. Water under the bridge and/or a pipe dream, but a hire like Leach with his Air Raid would have been a home run here. There are lots of good, young offensive coordinators out there. I know the concern is they would leave if they won here, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The narrative is similar for basketball...
True, however young up an comers are never a sure bet, nor is the style they promote, they are gambles at most and true the reward can be huge if you hire a great one, but if you get a bad one (see UNM with Locksey) you can set your program back 10 years. You also run into the fact if he is really good you have to hang on to him, which quite frankly UTEP has little resources to accomplish this. A known quantity coach like PRICE or LEACH may be available once in while, but timing seldom works out. Finally most quality coordinators are out of our price range or we are out of their comfort zone (which means they feel the challenges at a place like UTEP are too great to risk a promising career). Bottom line anyone a school like UTEP hires is a gamble, and some come with a few positives or negatives but they are still a gamble. Leach would have never come to UTEP, he had just got ran out of town by a bunch of West Texas yokels in Lubbock and he wasn't going to repeat that at a school lower on the totem pole like UTEP.
True, however young up an comers are never a sure bet, nor is the style they promote, they are gambles at most and true the reward can be huge if you hire a great one, but if you get a bad one (see UNM with Locksey) you can set your program back 10 years. You also run into the fact if he is really good you have to hang on to him, which quite frankly UTEP has little resources to accomplish this. A known quantity coach like PRICE or LEACH may be available once in while, but timing seldom works out. Finally most quality coordinators are out of our price range or we are out of their comfort zone (which means they feel the challenges at a place like UTEP are too great to risk a promising career). Bottom line anyone a school like UTEP hires is a gamble, and some come with a few positives or negatives but they are still a gamble. Leach would have never come to UTEP, he had just got ran out of town by a bunch of West Texas yokels in Lubbock and he wasn't going to repeat that at a school lower on the totem pole like UTEP.
Well the other issue is you had bigger programs willing to throw some money at him, enter Washington State. Pullman needed a big name to offset their location and facilities. Leach helped those donor dollars come in and their improving their facilities, but Pullman is still a hard place to recruit to. Although they've started slow, WSU people aren't ready to throw him overboard yet (what other big name are they gonna get, seriously?), so they are going to give Leach as much time as they can before they dump him on the 270 to Idaho.
Would he have came to UTEP? Doubtful, but taking a swing at him or any other big name is never a bad idea. 1. You never know and 2, it lets your fan base know you're serious about your program. I like Kugs staff. I think this is better fit than the staff he had before. But as I've said from the start, they have to develop their players better and have an identity. I'm still not sure what that is yet.
Agree, seems utep ends up playing bigger named school when that team just so happens to have a great year. WishOr when we do schedule a Kansas they have just happen to have their best team in the last 50 years...
It doesnt matter what style we play as long as we win. Attendance will be back up over 35k this year if we win the next two games. Attendance cratered in about year six of the Price era. It really began earlier but the homegame against Texas in 08 put lipstick on the pig. We hemoraged fans because it appeared like we werent commited to winning. Attendance was hurt in 2014 by back to back beatdowns on national tv. Last year we couldnt recover from the ugly first half. This year we have a chance to get some average fans back. The game against Texas was disapointing but they were competive. Army should draw about 38k. If we win 35 k should show up for usm. If we are 3-1 and have knocked off the division favorites the city will get excited and the bandwagon will start filling up.
Speaking of Leach, hIs press conferences are hilarious:
"I've got receivers running routes that don't even resemble anything we teach."
"We dont like to run and hit and this is a game for running and hitting."
"We are the easiest team in the country to tackle."
"We run out of bounds more than any team in the country"
"We're like a JC Softball team where its not if you win or lose, it is the team that has the most fun are the winners."