UTEP Basketball – Kyyote's Den

A Long Sigh….”I See”, Said the Blind Man and If IT Offends…

I love UTEP. It is my school. I enrolled in 1982 and graduated in 1986. I have been a fan since the day I started classes and I will love her until the day I die and so of course I will be a fan until then, too. As a UTEP football fan you learn to be prepared for bad in ways that other people can only have nightmares about. But, like the one-armed bandits at the casino off of the highway there are just enough payouts to keep you coming back, right after you leave the pawn shop. The basketball has been a little better, but not a lot. Like the tadpole shrimp that appear from seemingly out of nowhere at Album Park after the monsoon season creates the big ponds over the soccer and football fields below, UTEP fans are just waiting for an opportunity to support our teams more than in silent desperation. Public humiliations aren’t what they’re cracked up to be and perhaps over the decades they have taken their toll on this Miner. The orange coating on the lenses of my orange colored glasses has worn thin, I am afraid.

The Athletic Director just up and retired, after the Head Coach of the Football team, a former player of the AD’s, just up and quit in the middle of the season, one that would end up being a winless season, followed by the sudden retirement of the Favorite Son basketball Head Coach! Now, almost any fan in the world would be asking just what in the Hell is going on? But, for most UTEP fans that have been around awhile we just say, “We are the Miners”. Not with pride, not dripping with sarcasm, just a recognition of reality. It’s how we roll.

But, a thought began to creep into my brain that perhaps there was a connection that might explain such an odd occurrence of events. I am wondering and think it is entirely possible that the administration may have given the AD and coaches orders to raise the academic standards above what the NCAA requires. Hey, when you are a fan of a team that went 0-12 your time isn’t occupied talking about all of the great things and talking about how bad the team is, gets to be pretty much a drag after a while. The fan that has run a website dedicated to his team for years isn’t supposed to be writing negatively about things. If the administration has made demands that have impacted the ability to recruit players to play, win, and get and education in trade for requiring coaches to recruit students to play and get good grades and an education, that’s a good thing, right? You see, that’s the rub. Have we been watching really inexplicably bad football because the coaches had to recruit really good students? And is that bad. Should we even complain about that? So, while the Athletic department seems to be exploding, I have this to wrestle with. The administration seems to be not as committed to winning as the other teams we compete against in order to have better academic performance.

So, today, our brand spankin’ new Athletic Director and the University President have given us our new Head Football Coach. Now, maybe it is the many years of losing in particularly humiliating ways, and the whole fool me a fricken’ thousand times…! thing, but I was still on the old thinking about winning track. I am an old dog and damned slow at that. With cataracts. I was think that this wasn’t a splashy name. I wasn’t a name that inspired. It was a twice re-treaded old obscure guy. To say I was disappointed would be quite an understatement. Then, I tried to place the hire from the perspective of the conspiracy theory that makes winning games a nice thing but getting good grades is the goal. Did they have a hard time getting a coach to come here? Twice head coach with what some would say steps backward along the way and a record the last time that was dismal at best in the late stages of his career is the best candidate for the job? Well, shit fire and piss champagne! I have reached a point in my long career as a Miners fan that I don’t even half give a shit who it is anymore and what is worse is I don’t even know if I am supposed to expect or even hope for winning or what, smile proudly when we are losing 70-0 knowing that our guys get better grades.

Sometimes, I just figure the Hell with it, but the thing is, you can’t quit your school. It is your school. Give up? Give up what? Hope? Like hoping your horse that you put money on in the race will win but finding out that the jockey isn’t really into getting horses all sweaty. In the end, I am a Miner. This isn’t my first rodeo. Hell, you’d think I would be used to it after so many years of it. I don’t know, are we supposed to smile and act like we are very hopeful, or not be stupid and silly and all. Don’t expect to win, but be proud of the work we are doing here at UTEP. Family!

Final note, everyone knows that the offensive linemen are usually the smartest guys on the team. Kugler was an offensive lineman and an offensive line coach. Do you have to ask how our line that could never get a yard when the team needed it does in the classroom? Hint, this might be a hint to explain 0-11 from a power running team with now power to run. Now, here is the last fact I will leave you with and it is from the UTEP Football website; “Dimel was a two-year letterman as an offensive lineman at Kansas State.”

Smile, be nice. It isn’t his fault. Maybe he will help. Help raise the grades or the win totals? Both? Yeah, sure! There’s the ticket! We are the Stanford of the Borderland! Only without the prestige of Stanford or the wins. But, we are trying really hard. And trying to do it with less. We are the Miners.

Follow Up To Higher Standards Question

Well, I decided that my questioning the standards set academically behind closed doors possibly wasn’t completely insane. So, I went to the UTEP Basketball website, looked at the biographies of the players on the roster. Maybe I am crazy, but I think we happen to have a pretty damned smart basketball team.

The team lists 13 players. Of the 13 players, three of them already hold degrees. Matt Wilms and Keith Frazier are grad students and Jake Flaggert earned a degree in marketing and is working on a second degree in General Management.

Juniors Paul Thomas and Isaiah Rhyanis are shown as Honor Roll student as a prep and National Honor Society student, respectively. Fellow Junior Trey Touchet ,”…maintained a 4.0 prep grade point average” and is working on his degree in Kinesiology.

Sophomore Isiah Osborne transferred from Windsor University, and the biography tells us “…honor roll student”. Then there is the Freshman Deshaun Highler is an “…Honor Roll student and recipient of Scholar Athlete Award”.

How we doing, so far. Eight of the 13 are above average I would say. Perhaps way above average is not a stretch. Omega Harris did have to sit out one session, if I remember correctly. Freshman Trey Wade sat out last season to concentrate on grades. That leaves three other freshmen, Evan Gilyard, Tirus Smith, and Kobe Magee that no comment was made about academics.

Now, those are the facts as best I can see. You can look at them the same as I can look at them. Ask the questions! When Wilms, Flaggert, Touchet, Thomas, and Frazier are on the floor there are three college graduates and two honor roll students on the floor! I swear to God, if we were Harvard or Stanford or something that would be Hellaciously impressive. We are UTEP! Geezus corn sake! Why make it a secret? Man! Someone at UTEP media relations has sat and watched the Titanic sink without saying a word! This should be national news, not that Tim quit. Shit! If people knew that he was winning the games he has won with the fricken’ Einsteins he should get academic athletics coach of the year something or another! Instead he was berated and driven from the job he loved! I may be as wrong as wrong can be, and if I am, I will happily admit it but from where I sit there is a story here that should be told. Next stop, a look at the football roster. Anyone want to bet on what I will find?

Looking On the Bright Side

UTEP does have a whole lot of extra money that they wouldn’t have had to spend on a new coach or two. Sean Kugler resigned so his salary would be stopped being paid. I’m sure that UTEP paid Mike Price to fill in, but a substitute teacher doesn’t make nearly as much as the regular teacher. Not only that, but I would expect that Kugler, Price and Floyd are all members of the Texas Retirement System, and as such Price’s pension would be set up to allow him to fill in. It gets complicated because Texas educators pay into TRS INSTEAD of Social Security. Anyway, Floyd’s and most of Kugler’s salaries were not paid even though they were budgeted. So, there should be an extra million, maybe million and a half dollars of salaries and benefits saved and in the bank.

I am getting into the weeds pretty deep here, but K. C. Keeler is a member of the TRS, I believe, and if that is true, the fact that he would be staying within the system may be a factor to consider for all parties concerned. As would be his coaches if he or they decided to come along.

Now, onto a question that I have been asking on the Kyyote’s Den http://kyyotesden.com/den/index.php?board=1.0 message board is did Dr. Natalicio impose standards for grades expected by players above those set by the NCAA? Kugler recruited local players of high quality and great students in the classroom, Unfortunately, it is pretty much believed that the players were just not competitive on the field. Was Kugler a really good guy who was all about educating young men and therefore willing to be non-competitive if necessary to make sure his players got an education? Or was he told to do this by Dr. Natalicio? Did Floyd get the same marching orders and finally get tired and frustrated by it to the point that with all of the other factors he realized that he would never be able to meet her standards and be able to rebuild the program? I am asking for a simple yes or no. Did Dr. Natalicio in her attempt to achieve Tier 1 status demand more from her coaches than other coaches? If she did, to tell the world that is what you have done is one thing, but if she did and didn’t tell the world she has committed what I would consider somewhat of a fraud on the ticket buyers and fans of the Miners. If you tell me that my team that I am paying to watch is fighting with one hand behind its back, for good reasons maybe, I can decide if I am willing to pay for the tickets knowing that. But if you are putting a team on the field with one hand tied behind its back and don’t tell me, you are committing a fraud as far as I am concerned. Sell me a car that is a V8 but you have plugged two spark plug holes up to be eco-friendly I am going to be pissed if you don’t tell me up front. I ask the question because Sean Kugler was an offensive line coach for the Steelers and he couldn’t put together a line that could get a single yard when they needed it. For years! But, the kids were getting good grades. And from local schools. Was Kugler’s recruiting affected by orders from Dr. Natalicio? The same question goes for Tim Floyd. I have noticed that the basketball players are really doing pretty well with their grades. Maybe even better than one might expect. Flaggart, Touchet, Wilms, how many of the basketball players are performing better in the classroom that the , oh let’s say, average school at this level? Is there any connection to Floyd giving up? Did health concerns added to the frustration of trying to win with added restrictions cause him to just throw his hands up and quit? Ask yourself this question. How many times have you ever heard of both the football coach and the basketball coach quitting, just quitting in the middle of the year? To me, the way this all went down smells fishy. The language I am hearing from Senter somehow kind of fits in with my conspiracy theory. I do have a lot of time on my hands, I have to admit. I would just like for someone in the know to tell me that I am wrong. I won’t be holding my breath, though.

Rooting, Team, and Loyalty

When I was a kid, back in the “Olden Days”, we used to be able to tell you anything and everything you wanted to know about the players on our teams that we rooted for. As a matter of fact, we could tell you the same about our rivals. Think in terms of Hatfields and McCoys. Years of slowly changing players on teams meant that years of history and animosity towards opposing players and teams were built into the games and built upon with each game. And most importantly, they represented you, and your town.

All of you can remember back to the simplest times in your lives when the players on you elementary school classroom, or school were playing against the other classroom or school. It is very tribal, I suppose. We quickly become passionately invested in those players and teams that represent us. Heroes are born. Then, high school and bragging rights have our heroes competing against our serious rivals. For some, the passion may wane and for others it is intensified. Those who go on to college become part of a new team, a new family, the family of your school, and the teams are your representatives. When they win, we win and we are therefore winners and when they lose, we lose and we are losers. The players and coaches aren’t necessarily the kids we grew up with anymore, but they are our guys and we usually have them for a few years. That gives us enough time to get that whole knowing about them and who they are, after all, they are our new family members and it is harder to root for the brand new brother-in-law that you just met than it is to root for the family you have known for years. He’s family and he is welcomed with open arms, but only with a little time will we get to know and love the guy.

Now, back to when I was a kid. Back then, players basically belonged to the teams that signed them. Those teams invested in them, developed them, and hoped that they would get a great return on their investment. We fans were right there the whole time and we invested our time, energy, and passion too.

Then, the courts found that Roberto Clemente was right to claim that he was now a slave to his owners as far as his career was concerned and they gave him, and all other professional athletes their freedom and Free Agency was born. Clemente rejected the investment in his development by his employer and the fans of Pittsburg. Y’all don’t own me! This made him now available to the highest bidder for his services, he was no longer a family member, he became a mercenary. He rejected loyalty for money. So did every other professional athlete. Their loyalty was to themselves and money was the tangible reward for their loyalty to themselves. Teams, owners and fans were thrown under the team bus by the very players they had grown to love. That was the end of loyalty. Players waved goodbye to their fans with a middle finger and a fistful of Benjamins.

But, the feelings, passion and desire to have a team to root for and to represent us is strong. It has been bred into us forever. It is developed and nurtured during our formative years. So, we go along with the new way of putting together our team. It is no longer assembling family members, it is hiring the best mercenaries and keeping them together long enough to win. So what was once a passionate love of team and “family” is now devolved into rooting for your collected hired guns against the other guys gang. I went to Oakland Raiders games when they played on a junior college football field and sat on aluminum bleachers. Loyalty to the fans went out the door many years ago. They are my NFL team, but I don’t much give a rat’s ass about them and haven’t for years. It is Sunday sports. I may or may not watch. The NFL seems to be on a drive to eliminate whatever there may be left in y interest entirely.

The NCAA, the players, and college athletics are starting to look more and more like the pros with each passing year. The players are abandoning the idea of development being worth something that they get in return for some level of loyalty to their teammates and coaches and their school. College basketball is where it is most apparent. Transfers, hardship waivers, and a short one year of extra preparation sitting out are the equivalent of the college player’s free agency. It has made half of Division 1 basketball the minor leagues for the Big 5 Cartel schools. It has made coaching and recruiting a nightmare for the mid majors.

All of this sounds like an old man complaining about the good old days fading away and the dawning of the new day and new ways. It is, and that doesn’t mean I am wrong about it, though. The new day and new way is a way with no loyalty, no emotional investment, and no history or tradition. The new way boils down to either win and we all like that or lose and you are on your own. How long do you think that is really going to last? The NFL may be finding out just how quickly a fan will drop a hooker as opposed to leaving his wife.