Basketball Team

[Minermojo]

You've got the right idea Ky, but I don't think Tim would be as attrative NOW as in days gone. Most players don't even know who he is. Get someone of this basketball era who's played pro and knows the ropes and one who people at least know him. I don't follow pro basketball, I think it stinks but I'm sure those who do watch pro basketball know a few players who would be a draw for the future players and the fans. Yes, I'm in the Deion bandwagon, he brought players for a few seasons and now he's gone so what? I'm sure there would be other pro players who would want to put their toe into the cold water pool to check out their coaching talents.

Maybe thinking of pro players who would make a good coach would make a good thread. I don't know too many just the ones that constantly come out in commercials so I'm out.

[SisyphusMiner]

I also am not sure about whether Hardaway is a well enough name amongst the college age kids.   He did retire 20 years ago.  But then I don't hang with any ballers that age, so I don't know.

It's obvious that recruiting is hard.  Haskins hated it, and after the 60s didn't really do it much and looked for hungry assistants that would.  And the teams fortunes rose and fell on the strength of their recruiting.  It was never too bad because he could get more out of a player than any coach alive.  But it mattered.  Now it may be the only thing that matters.  And money.  NIL money matters.  Get enough of that and we'll get the players we want. 

[kyyote]

Hardaway?s son is a current NBA player. But I don?t care, you tell me who would create the big splash to land the best players. But right now we are in free fall. We are being ditched again and we have no plans or excuse for it. We are headed for the cellar of college basketball?s equivalent of a partapotty of a conference. And the band played on.

[SisyphusMiner]

That's a great point about his son.  I'm on board now.  When we hired Golding I was still hurting from Kug and didn't want to hire yet another alumni.  But let's give it a shot

[MinerInWisconsin]

We're not in a horrible basketball conference, ranked in the net as 10th out of 32. But we suck for sure. Golding will be here for at least a 3rd season so what kind of a season does he have to have next year to hang on to his job?

[kyyote]

We ae in a one bid conference that is losing four of our top teams.  We will cobble together a conference and see if it holds at 10 out of 32.  It may.  My point is that we are headed in the wrong direction even if we are holding our place in line.  We need to make dramatic moves to show a commitment to elevating the program.  We never have, and my good sense says we aren't about to change after the forty years I have witnessed personally.

He will be given an extension after this year.  He is doing fine. 

UTEP is fine. 

Did you know that UTEP is one of 129(I think) and one of four in C-USA Top Tier Research Institutions in the country? 

[MinerInWisconsin]

UTEP athletics have not been fine for a long time despite having among the best paid basketball coaches in the G5 schools, or mid-majors. I think if Golding had a true outside threat or 2, this team would be doing much better.

If tv appearances would help recruiting then the new cusa media contract should help because no more cusatv, many more bb games carried on linear tv and the rest all available on espn+ or espn3. Football has more linear tv as well, even though mid-week games all of Oct. Those games will have a lot less competition for viewers but inconvenient for ticket holders.

Some folks say UTEP needs to spend more on athletics but where will that money come from? El Paso is not loaded. We do have a few rich folks that UTEP has depended on but how often can you go to the same well?

[kyyote]

I agree about a shooter or two would make a huge difference.  If ifs and buts...
I have absolutely no doubt that Golding can coach. 

I tried to look up coaches' salaries and was able to get 2019 numbers.

Here are a few for comparison;

UTSA  325k
WKU  650k
FAU 390k
FIU  300k
Fresno St  535k
LAT  150k
MTU  575k
NMSU  290k
UNT  500k
UAB  400k
UTEP  700k

Golding actually gets like 400 with 300k in speaking money for doing his radio show.  Terry was making 725k

So yes, we are paying top dollar for Joe Golding.  I know he knows how to coach.  There are high school coaches that know how to coach.  But I said that I cannot judge his recruiting based on a single year of crazy  portal basketball.  I personally think he is a fine man.  I don't know that he is a basketball talent magnet.  You tell me if he is the best coach for the money or if Senter hired someone based on one game?  I don't know. I think Joe Golding is tickled pink.

I also looked at student fees.  UTSA-240 a semester, UNT 16.25/hr capped at 15 hrs, FAU 19.25/hr, WKU 218/sem, and UTEP 240/sem BUT it unlike the others listed also pays for lots of other stuff.
?fee to fund student-related services such as intramural activities; student government, disabled student organizations, career services, cheerleaders, student publications, health services, intercollegiate athletics and others as recommended by the Student Service Fee Committee.?

El Paso has built very nice new homes in every direction, west, northeast, and the eastside as far as El Paso can go almost and they aren't huts.  El Paso has enough money for the students to pay the same as everyone else.  Or are we going  to say that we are too poor to play at this level?  Bullshit!

[Minermojo]

As I was telling my DIL that OUR people want Bueno, Bonito y Barato that's how El Pasoans think. Translated it's Good, Beautiful and Cheap. Mind you they will shell out good money on some things like the Monster Truck Shows at the Sun Bowl but will hesitate on spending their money on college sports. It's sad but it's what it is, regardless of income.

[Chanson]

I agree that Golding can coach his ars off. He should have 4yrs no question. He has not proven that he can recruit. He's like the opposite of Terry. I give him the rest of this year and 2 others to make it right. I will call for his head after that if, he can't get us to the NCAA Tournament. An NCAA showing should give him another 4yrs in my book.

[kyyote]

I am a cranky old man and I am tired of giving people time to fix things. To right the ship my ass. I want hires that turn things around the minute they get here. Four more years of being a cellar dweller may finish UTEP basketball off for good. We are down to being able to play games in memorial gym.   

[MinerInWisconsin]

I am a cranky old man and I am tired of giving people time to fix things. To right the ship my ass. I want hires that turn things around the minute they get here. Four more years of being a cellar dweller may finish UTEP basketball off for good. We are down to being able to play games in memorial gym.

I would love to see UTEP get it's basketball program back to the big dance and frequently. Love to see the Don hopping again. Would love to see 40k plus crowds in the Sun Bowl to watch a winning UTEP team. I don't have a magic wand to make all that happen but the UTEP admin can do it if they get the right people in place.

My hope is Golding will recruit the right pieces for next year to win big and that Dimel has already recruited so well that he surprises us all with a conference championship and a bowl win this coming season.

[Minermojo]

If those players from Enemas U. that entered the portal and are good players and Golding didn't try to recruit them then there's a problem there. They're there for the asking and if like I said, good enough to improve our BB program and Golding doesn't do squat it just shows he's not that great at what he likes to do, talk at a hundred mile per hour clip.

[kyyote]

I don?t know if you know what was happening at nmsu but those players were involved if they just knew what happened and didn?t scream bloody murder. Nope. We don?t need them. Or the coach. Nmsu will now bring that stink to our conference. Just the kind of way to start a newly revamped conference.

[Minermojo]

I don?t know if you know what was happening at nmsu but those players were involved if they just knew what happened and didn?t scream bloody murder. Nope. We don?t need them. Or the coach. Nmsu will now bring that stink to our conference. Just the kind of way to start a newly revamped conference.

There could be a lot of factors for those players who didn't speak out and that kept their mouths shut if they knew. It's not that easy especially for young people to snitch at each other even though they might be against what was occurring. I'm sure that foreign player was so happy to have gotten a US school scholie that he didn't want to rock the boat and then have everyone against him. It would have been really stressful playing in a team that hated your guts for being a rat. I don't know about the other ones that are leaving but I imagine it was almost the same thing for them.