Month: September 2017

This One Is To Recognize the Players

I have been very frustrated with and critical of Sean Kugler and the football he has brought to UTEP. Mike Price had given the football program a chance to break the gravitational pull of the black hole that UTEP football had been for so long. Even he was losing ground and sliding back, so when Kugler was hired I was ready for a Miner to lead our Miners and get back to putting distance between the team and its past. It didn’t work out as… I had hoped. But, this one isn’t about that. This one is about the players.
Let me begin with the offensive line. Coach Kugler coached the Steelers’ offensive line. So, let’s start with the assumption that they have learned their jobs from one of the best teachers around. All-American offensive lineman is a term usually reserved for cartel member teams only, and never before heard at UTEP. Now, think about how good at Texas Hold ‘Em you would have to be to win if the dealer was dealing your cards face up and the other player’s cards face down. So, we don’t look at the stats, or pile of chips. We look at the way they play within the way the game is being played. They make few mistakes. They don’t get rattled. They know the game itself quite well and play it as well as they can under the circumstances. They are still united, and focused. Throw out the stats and they probably deserve an “A” for what they have been asked to do.
Speaking of All-American UTEP football players, Brian Natkin is the UTEP Miners very own unanimous selection All- American tight end and he is at home here coaching the UTEP Tight Ends. So, they are also being coached by one of the best around. We can be sure that they know their craft and that expectations are set at the highest level. Take note of the fact that the tight ends are never flagged. They go to work and do their jobs as they are assigned. Rock solid.
That is the engine of the machine. It red lines at about 6 thousand rpm’s but it has so much torque it could pop a wheelie while pulling a 747. Top speed of about 95 but built for work. Some people build race cares and some people build for tractor pulling. Some engines burn nitro and some burn diesel. Kugler is a Kenworth kind of guy and he has built a fine rig.
We will look at some other units in the future. I don’t want to burn up all of my positive energy in one shot. There is still plenty of positives to talk about. How about that Jones kid! Next time.

 

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Sean “Clueless” Kugler

Maybe it is just really hard to say something intelligent after another 3+ hour stink-a-thon, but Sean Kugler said this; “We didn’t sustain any drives and offensively, we’re not running the ball well.  We need to fix that problem,” Kugler said.  “What the answers are, we’re going to have to get back to work and try to figure that out.  I don’t have that answer for you right now.”
 
“Can you believe this came out of his mouth, “we’re not running the ball well”?!  I don’t know if there has even been a bigger understatement ever made. The Miners, built by Sean Kugler to run the football, no trickeration, just push people around run the football, ran for 17 yards last night.  Seventeen yards!
 
Kugler says the coaches have to fix that and he doesn’t have an answer.  Coach!  Who do you think we should pay to come give you the answer?  Here’s what is even worse!  There have been three games so far.  Against the top 5 in the country team, OU, the Miners ran for 73 yards.  By any measure that is oh, since I am an retired teacher I’ll give it a letter grade a “D” at best.  Then, against Rice it dropped to 26 yards of rushing!  That is an “F”, and it wasn’t even close to passing.  Working hard to fix the problem it only got worse.  The Miners powered their way to seventeen yards behind the All-American left tackle Will Hernandez!  I mean, how do you even do that?  I have never coached a single game of football, but I swear, I believe I could coach the team to more rushing yards than that if I didn’t coach them at all.  But, with just what I know, I am pretty sure I could do much better than 17 yards of rushing.  And, having never coached a single football game in my life, I think I can see the answer that Sean Kugler can’t find if it was his ass and he was using both hands.  I mean, everyone can.  My wife can see it.  But, Kugler is at a loss!
 
Here is his plan, though;
“You look at scheme first, whether you’re doing too much or not doing what’s suited for your players.  And then you look at personnel.  And again, we do have some guys we can look at with [Joshua] Fields and [Ronald] Awatt.  But collectively, something has got to change there or we will be in trouble.”
 
Has he not been looking at his “scheme”? I mean, seriously!  What the Hell!  His scheme is the same as it has been since he got here, and it has gotten to this point!  Seventeen yards!  What are you looking at when you are looking, for Christ’s sake?  Jock strap placement?  The new helmets? The line blocking?  It really isn’t that complicated.  But, even if you can’t figure out what is wrong, which oh by the way is what you’re paid to do, how about just throwing up you hands and saying I don’t know why we can’t run the ball the way I want to, so in desperation I’m going to try that throwing a forward pass?  Nope, let’s try and figure out if we can move feet closer together, spread the line out maybe a little, work on the line men’s hands.  Get new jerseys.  Something!?
 
Maybe it is because you are looking at what is suited for your players(you know, the ones you recruited to be just the kind of players you needed to do what you do) instead of looking at what your basic idea of what to do is?  Maybe?  Couldn’t be that, right?  Nope.  Look at the players.  Surely there has to be some players that can do what I want to do!  Right?  Because that is so much easier than looking at the way you are trying to play football!
 
But, in one of the stupidest statements I have ever read(looking back at it, it could be very insightful, though, one that rates right up there with we have to pass it to find out what’s in it, there is this, ” But collectively, something has got to change there or we will be in trouble.”  Will be in trouble?  We aren’t now, but we will be! Something has got to change.  Well, Kugler, like a blind hog, may have finally stumbled onto an acorn of wisdom.  Most Miners fans know what it is and are waiting, disgustedly for the change to come.  It is obvious that Kugler can’t be held to his word.  Stull is out of here.  So, it seems that Clueless Kugler is here for the duration.
discuss it here;
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The Miners Knock Off Arizona!

  

I put on my Miner orange welder’s goggles and leaned back.  I thought about my UTEP MINERS winning their game against Arizona this evening on national television.  The Miners had the ball first and Arizona set up their defense.  Cheating toward the line, the Miners snapped the ball and handed it off to the running back who struggled and fought for the two yards he got.
 
On the second down, the quarterback dropped three steps and hit a streaking tight end across the middle , getting behind the linebackers and dragging three defensive backs for an extra ten yards before they could wrestle him to the ground, and shocked the 15 thousand die hard fans  to attention.  The next play from scrimmage went to a wide open wide receiver on his way to the first six points of the night.  The Miners in uniform mob the two conspirators celebrating their pitch and catch in the end zone, but rush to get off of the field. The team is unintentionally showing their inner joy.  They have been told that there will and must be passes downfield.  They must be completed!  The energy is deafening!
 
The Miners defense comes out on fire and holds Arizona to three downs and a punt.  The Miners offense sprints onto the field.  The offensive line pancakes the Arizona defensive line and UTEP goes straight up through the middle for 35 yards.  The quarterback hurries the team to the line and while Arizona reels, he fades back to throw.  Defenders run on instinct towards the quarterback and receivers.  The delayed draw catches the defense completely out of position to do anything but watch, as the back trots into the end zone. With 10 minutes and change left in the first quarter, the Miners have jumped out to a 14 to nothing lead.
 
The rest of the first half is a back and forth affair, each team getting into the end zone twice more.  The second half opens with the Miners leading 28 to 14.  The Miners defense allows Arizona to pull to within a score on a long drive, but the Miners also force them  to use nearly 12 minutes to do it.  The Miners offense takes another 12 minutes off of the clock with their next possession and once again the lead is back to fourteen.  They score quickly, going up field in chunks of ten to twenty yards at a time and with three minutes left make the score 35-28 Miners.  On the ensuing kick, the Miners returner runs it back for a touchdown!  The crowd goes wild.  No, I mean the crowd is frenzied.  My own wife is kissing all over me in the excitement!  So much so that she is getting slobbery and downright annoying!  Alright!   That’s enough! Dang! I push her away and she barks at me.  Ok, now, that’s enough!  Nock it off!  I can’t even see her with these welder’s goggles on.  I must have nodded off. I pull the goggles off and rub my eyes to adjust them to the light.  My dog is on the couch telling me it is time for her afternoon treats.  Dreams of a Miners fan.

Sports, UTEP, and Dr. Natalicio

I hate that it is all that I do lately but here is more downer shit.  Dr. Natalicio has been in charge for more than a quarter of a century at UTEP.  Ask yourselves what the football has been like during that period.  Now, do you think she hasn’t heard anything before?  She teaches kids.  Football is a diversion for the students, and since they don’t care, she reads that quite clearly.  It doesn’t matter to anyone except silly fans.  I know exactly how it works on a campus.  Leadership comes from the captain of the ship.  What do you think she does, what her job is?  To run all of UTEP’s different departments and set the agenda, tone, and measure the results.  Literally, she and doesn’t ask Stull, she tells him the agenda, makes sure he understands how she feels about it, and has watched the results.  Since Stull was here as long as he wanted to be here, he was obviously doing exactly what she wanted done.  She is the President and she has never been a rubber stamp figurehead.  She is a very strong leader.  Any teacher out there knows which principals run a tight ship, one that gets it done in all areas, academically, athletically, cafeteria, and sparkling shiny floors.  Any one on that ship not performing at a level of expectations will be gone.  Nothing personal.  They are cold blooded when it comes their ship.  Oh, and the people who work there, love it and the Captain.  They shine just like the floors.  It is pretty obvious to me that Dr. Natalicio has weighed the different aspects of the Athletic Departments role and is comfortable with its level of performance.  As for it being the face of the University as seen across the country, ask yourselves how many of her students come from anywhere other than El Paso county.  Nope, for her, and to those she is serving The Best Bang For the Buck recognition for the degrees she hands to her kids is all that matters.  Everything is perfect in Minerland.  Even the football players are getting good grades.