Why is it that in the past we used to loose against the likes of Indiana, Utah, BYU, UNLV, Georgetown, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Maryland, Butler, but now we lose against the likes of UC Riverside, Bradley, Marshall, Southern Utah ? What went wrong ???
Why ???
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At one point UTEP was playing in competitive conferences and the program was at a high level. In the last twenty years as the schools around us fought to advance in the competitive college landscape, UTEP’s drifted further down.
Unfortunately that is a fact. We are so much less relevant now than in the 80, 90's and then by early 2000's the name UTEP no longer meant much anymore. Hoping Golding can change that and stay for awhile, but we'll see.
It’s the landscape of college basketball these days. When has a St. Peter’s made it to the sweet sixteen?
Easy, "Sports Parity".
"In sports, parity is when participating teams have roughly equivalent levels of talent. In such a league, the "best" team is not significantly better than the "worst" team. This leads to more competitive contests where the winner cannot be easily predicted.".
Transfer portal. 24/7/365 training (and nutrion). Domestic push of (revenue driven) sports which has forced college boards/regents to push for a share of fan dollars which demands coaches to bring in better talent (even from other countries). For example, FBS (formerly aka D1A) participation has grown so much that power conferences feel the NCAA is allowing too many universities into the division. Since football is the cash cow for FBS programs this allows schools to invest in woman's programs and allow coach extra flexibility to recruit. AAU programs have blown up so much that AAU coaches wield power on D1 college coaches. For example, who on here ever heard of "Coastal Carolina" just a few years ago? Exactly. But yet they cracked the Top 25 and are now bringing the money and made the conference very attractive to recruits. This is a game changer for college coaches and a great recruiting tool. In the late 90's, early 2000's a program from Idaho was giving top programs fits on the field, "Who or where the hell is Boise State?!".
SU got serious about basketball and hired a fantastic coach, Todd Simon. Remember that name, you will hear it more in the near future. Great coaches bring in great talent and to overachieve like someone we know, Coach Golding. Bradley has a good basketball program and has had one for years. UC-Riverside is in an extremely under rated conference. Marshall got serious about basketball as well and hired Dan D'Anoni who is full of himself, but a darn good coach.
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Cuz in the past we used to play Indiana, Utah, BYU, UNLV, GT, Cinci, Maryland, Butler, and now we don't. Instead we play Bradley, UC Riverside, Marshall, and Southern Utah.
Someone on the realignment board brought up the fact that in 1985 there were 200 div 1 basketball schools and now there are 358. Yes the population has also grown but still there is much more competition for the available talent. Might have something to do with it but as JC said, the schedule has changed quite a bit. Hopefully Golding will upgrade the OOC schedule soon.
In the mid 90's coaching salaries were modest. There were no million dollar coaches. But then TV contracts for certain Conferences started to change the landscape. Florida State started paying Bobby Bowden and the Spurrier at Florida became the first million dollar coach. The Southwest Conference broke up, conferences blew up, everyone started jostling for position, and it became the crazy unequal.
Prior to the 80's, things were also really unequal. But the NCAA changed the rules and limited scholarships. The Big Schools would sign over 100 football players and just prevent rivals from getting anybody good. Once the Limits were placed, in the 80's, you could compete. Money gaps weren't that great. Everyone had the same amount of scholarships. Schools weren't tied to TV deals and local channels could show all the games they wanted.
There are alot of layers to how College Sports has morphed into $100 million dollar budgets vs. $10 Million Dollar budgets.
The cliff notes version is there was a 15 year period when things were more or less even. When the Gap was a Foot and not a mile.
Prior to the 80's, things were also really unequal. But the NCAA changed the rules and limited scholarships. The Big Schools would sign over 100 football players and just prevent rivals from getting anybody good. Once the Limits were placed, in the 80's, you could compete. Money gaps weren't that great. Everyone had the same amount of scholarships. Schools weren't tied to TV deals and local channels could show all the games they wanted.
There are alot of layers to how College Sports has morphed into $100 million dollar budgets vs. $10 Million Dollar budgets.
The cliff notes version is there was a 15 year period when things were more or less even. When the Gap was a Foot and not a mile.
Outside of Indiana, Georgetown, and Iowa St. (which were due to Haskins' relationship with Knight, Thompson, and Floyd), the examples were all due to involuntary scheduling, be it conference (Utah, BYU, or UNLV) or tournament (Cincinnati, Maryland, or Butler). So the easy answer is that we changed conferences and haven't been to the tournament in a decade plus.
If you're happy to lose to other teams, it looks like Golding's relationship with Beard may allow us to lose at Texas next year.
Not that far fetched: Jerry Jones is that reason. President, Owner, and GM for the 27 years of futility . UTEP has had Stull and Senter. One could argue that both have made poor choices and run us into the ground.
Now that the ncaa has turned over the revamping of rules to each division it wouldn't surprise me if the rich schools do away with scholarship limits.
Sometimes I wonder if UTEP should just come to the realization that this is who we are and build a 5600 seat arena and Demo the Sun Bowl back to 30,000 seats.
Yeah, but it’s because of money and TV. Not because they’re “afraid to lose” to a mid major. Especially with the soon to be atrocious CUSA 4.0 on the horizon.
Indiana isn’t going to play here to play on CBSSN, Stadium, or ESPN+. Indiana can make more money playing IUPUI in Bloomington than taking their show on the road.
Some of you small minded fans might complain, but UTEP also employs this strategy, just on a different level. They’re not playing at UC-Riverside or McNeese St. I think the last smaller team we visited was Texas Southern.
So some will complain, but UTEP chooses to do the same with their lower level competition as well.
UTEP did play road games at Pacific and New Mexico. Those are good teams for a mid-major to schedule home-and-homes with.
I like the strategy of bringing strong mid-majors to the Sun Bowl Tourney, but I wonder if they're ever going to get another P6 team in that tournament.
Get rid of the top section on the east side of the Sun Bowl and replace it with either more pavilion seating, luxury suites, or maybe an open patio with bars and restaurants. That should reduce capacity to around 35k.
Don Haskins similar concept to the renovations Houston did at the Fertitta Center. That would reduce capacity to around 9k or so. Basketball could still draw crowds of 8k+ with winning and correct prices.
Pacific and New Mexico play in better conferences than CUSA. Talking about SWAC, MEAC, and other poor programs.
With what money? It takes years for UTEP to complete simple projects.
Only negative people think that way. This is why UTEP isn't successful and other teams are flying by them.
I bet most people thought it was a pipedream that St. Peter's would beat Kentucky and reach the Sweet 16.
Why has UTEP fallen behind in sports? All good points made above...but in a roundabout way, I think it might be El Paso...perceptions (right or wrong) about EP are not the best. Ex...I read EP Times online and recent headlines included: EP one of least affordable places to live in US and Juarez one of top Ten most violent cities in the world..or words to the effect. Great PR! Has always been a challenge to recruit to EP; sports, jobs, etc. I doubt Golding has any long term plans to stay at UTEP and would jump at the first good opportunity. Hard to recruit and retain players too - thanks to xfer portal and perhaps some want to get the heck out town.
Not much can be done about EP, but UTEP leadership let an opportunity slip by many years ago and now, the gap has widened...Prioirty one: need to get into a new conference!
Not much can be done about EP, but UTEP leadership let an opportunity slip by many years ago and now, the gap has widened...Prioirty one: need to get into a new conference!
Correction: We used to beat the likes of UTAH, BYU, UNLV, Georgetown etc. Beat them like a drum.
And your answer? Don Haskins, that's why. We had an elite coach. Not good, not developing, straight up boss coach.
You make it seem like we played UNLV and Georgetown every year. Can you find out our records vs Utah and BYU? Since we used to “beat them like a drum”, I would imagine it would be lopsided in our favor.
Miners vs BYU 25-41 since 1949
Miners vs 31-35 since 1949
One team got beat like a drum and it wasn’t BYU or Utah.
www.sports-reference.com
Miners vs 31-35 since 1949
One team got beat like a drum and it wasn’t BYU or Utah.
UTEP Men's Basketball Head-to-Head Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Check out UTEP's College Head-to-Head Results and More About College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
But we have a .750 winning advantage over Texas AND Texas A & M. We beat the britches off of them.Miners vs BYU 25-41 since 1949
Miners vs 31-35 since 1949
One team got beat like a drum and it wasn’t BYU or Utah.
UTEP Men's Basketball Head-to-Head Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Check out UTEP's College Head-to-Head Results and More About College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Pipe dream. You can say it’s being negative, but just reality. Only the government can spend money they don’t have.
So why is it that St. Peter's can get to the Sweet 16, but UTEP can only win one game in The Basketball Classic?
It's all a positive mindset. If you say something will never happen, then it won't happen.
I don't believe in "never". I think, with the right administration, anything is possible.
I’m sure Utep is going to put a arena on a credit card. I know they would finance it but they don’t have the budget.
You all need to use common sense when talking about Utep doing things. Or pull out your check book and start donating millions.
You all need to use common sense when talking about Utep doing things. Or pull out your check book and start donating millions.
I didn't say that. You said "Only the government can spend money they don’t have." That's just not true.
This is what I'm talking about. With the right administration things can get done. The administration has to get the big donors to donate.
It always boggles my mind when I see NMSU building a baseball practice facility, basketball suites, etc. I always think as to why can't UTEP do things like that.
For the 12th time we need a dedicated student athletic fee and big donors that care. We have neither.
