Having watched a few games, I have seen what one expects from a coach and their team. I have coached a few, myself. Teams take on the personality of their coach. UTEP football has done exactly that. They play with the same energy and passion as their coach coaches. Attitude is a huge part of the game. But, if you put UTEP up against UT attitude is not going to be enough. What is the difference? Talent? Skill? You decide, but the undeniable fact is that there is a difference. So, why UT and not UTEP? The degree? A criminal justice degree from UTEP is as good as one from UT. That ain?t it. It?s to play big time college football. Coaches may come and go but playing big time football is the draw. Oh, and winning helps, too. But the Purdue quarterback would rather be losing in the big ten than winning in cusa.
So, how does cusa become big time football. Winning games against big time teams. And you can?t beat them if you don?t play them. Gonzaga and Boise State are the blueprints. But you don?t beat the best coaches using untried and unproven coaches. Unless you stumbled onto some genius. Nope, look at utsa and rich rodriguez in cusa. You get a big time football coach so that going into a game to lift you program you aren?t starting off at a disadvantage. This is not about coaching though. It?s about getting the best players to come play for a team that is trying to get to playing big time football. When utsa joined cusa after a couple of years and where they were going players had an easy choice to make if they were considering UTEP or utsa. One was looking to play big time football and the other was just fielding a team. Not trying to be a smartass. Honest. But, we sweat bullets for our highly spirited team to hang on for the nmsu win and lose 52 zip to a good team. Don?t get me wrong. If spirit and energy were all it took we might just have kicked Tennessee?s ass. And if bullfrogs had wings they wouldn?t scrape their stomachs when they jumped. But they don?t.
In my forty plus years of being a Miner and watching them play football we had one period where we were almost playing big time football. Why? UTEP showed a desire to and players came to be a part of it. The next coach should have been another good coach and pay him accordingly. But we did what we always do. We tried an unproven position coach. And then a golden parachute for an old friend. Those two gave us a dozen years of loser football as we free fell and we watched everyone we ever played move up in realignment while we pushed the down button in our elevator shoes. And our answer was to give a leaping unknown lower division coach a FIVE fucking year contract-at the same pay as the last coach, with head coaching and forty years experience. Was that a smart move? Well, we have a year to look at to give us a clue. A three win season may be right at our standard, but is damned sure horrible especially considering the competition. So, do we call this year normal, a waste, a building year, or just another season at UTEP?
FUCK!
