The 1966 Texas Western championship
The first all-Black starting five wins the NCAA basketball title — a civil-rights landmark and UTEP's defining moment
Program outlook
Program outlook
UTEP is the most geographically isolated program in major-college football — a mining-heritage university on the far western corner of Texas, 600 miles from the nearest power program — and it went 2-10 in 2025 before moving into the Mountain West.
Since Jun 14: L 7-61 at New Mexico; L 13-30 vs Nevada; L 11-24 vs San José State; L 7-31 at North Dakota State. 1-7 this season.
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El Paso is not a recruiting hub by the sport's conventional map, and UTEP's history reflects that plainly. The program's greatest sports moment came in 1966, when Texas Western — the school's former name — started five Black players and won the NCAA basketball championship, a civil-rights landmark that matters far beyond the scorebook. Football has never matched it. Mike Price's mid-2000s bowl teams — back-to-back bowl seasons, an 8-win year — are the high-water mark for the Miners on the gridiron, and they're twenty-plus years old.
Scotty Walden is entering his third season after a 2-10 (1-7 Conference USA) campaign in 2025, which is a brutal number for any coach but a particular kind of pressure at a program moving into a harder league. 2026 is UTEP's first year in the Mountain West — a genuine step up from Conference USA — and it arrives before the roster has been rebuilt enough to treat the upgrade as an opportunity rather than exposure. The borderland recruiting theory — that El Paso and the Juárez corridor are an untapped talent market the bigger programs ignore — is the long-term bet Walden is making.
The 2026 question is whether Walden survives long enough to test that theory. A program entering a tougher conference off a 2-10 season, under a third-year coach who hasn't yet reached a bowl, needs something to change. Sun Bowl Stadium is carved into the Franklin Mountains hillside. El Paso shows up for it. The question is whether the team on the field gives them a reason to.
On the field
UTEP's football identity is borderland grind — a program built to compete on effort and scheme in a market where size and budget are not the advantages. Walden runs a spread offense designed to maximize the limited talent available, with a physical running game that fits the roster profile. The Miners win when the ball-control plan shortens the game and the defense generates chaos; they lose when the talent gap overwhelms the scheme. Moving into the Mountain West tests whether the identity travels.
UTEP has won 36% of its games since 1930 — 47% at home, 24% on the road.
354-616-18 all-time · 94 seasons · 1930–2026
Home
235-259-9
Away
113-347-9
Neutral
6-10
47%
1930s
54%
1940s
56%
1950s
43%
1960s
21%
1970s
27%
1980s
25%
1990s
40%
2000s
28%
2010s
31%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
UTEP’s 2014–2026 record is 42-108.
Scotty Walden
Scotty Walden is in year 3. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Scotty Walden · 2024–presentPrev: Dana Dimel (2018–2023)OC: Lanear Sampson / Joe Pappalardo (co)Prev OC: Mark Cala / Ryan Stanchek (co) (2025)DC: Kelvin Sigler (co) / Kyle BeyerPrev DC: Kelvin Sigler (co) / Bobby Daly (2025)
3
years · era
Moments in UTEP history
- UTEP 43, Kennesaw State 35Nov 9, 2024
- UTEP hires Scotty Walden2023
- UTEP 27, Boise State 10Sep 23, 2022
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2005
Mike Price’s bowl run
Back-to-back bowl seasons restore football pride to El Paso
Moment of the year · 2026
Lost 0-51 at Oklahoma
Week 1 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.
2024–2024
UTEP has sent 2 players to the NFL Draft since 2024 — none in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
2
picks · 0 in round 1
#118
Tyrice Knight
Linebacker · 2024 · 
Seattle Seahawks · #35/577 final season
Seattle Seahawks · #35/577 final season
#220
Elijah Klein
Offensive Guard · 2024 · 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
#97 all-time · 2 first-round picksthe talent factory →
More in this tab
Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7UTEP is 1-7 — below .500 in FBS.
Below .500 in FBS play. The rebuild bar.
FBS sub-.500
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Mountain West standing · 2026
10th in the Mountain West
UTEP is 10th of 10 in the Mountain West at 0-4. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico | 4-0 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 4-1 |
| 3 | North Dakota State | 4-2 |
| 4 | UNLV | 3-1 |
| 5 | Air Force | 3-2 |
| 6 | Nevada | 2-2 |
| 7 | San José State | 2-3 |
| 8 | Hawai'i | 1-4 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois | 0-4 |
| 10 | UTEP | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Scotty Walden
- Dana Dimel departs
- Hired Dana Dimel
- Sean Kugler departs
- Mike Price departs
- Hired Mike Price
- Hired Sean Kugler
- Mike Price departs
Coordinator lineage
UTEP’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014–2015 · Patrick Higgins2016–2017 · Brent Pease2018–2020 · Mike Canales2021–2022 · Dave Warner2023 · Scotty Ohara2024 · Jake Brown / Ryan Stanchek (co)2025 · Mark Cala / Ryan Stanchek (co)2026 · Lanear Sampson / Joe Pappalardo (co)
Defense2014–2026
2014–2015 · Scott Stoker2016–2017 · Tom Mason2018–2020 · Mike Cox2021–2023 · Bradley Dale Peveto2024 · J. J. Clark / Kelvin Sigler (co)2025 · Kelvin Sigler (co) / Bobby Daly2026 · Kelvin Sigler (co) / Kyle Beyer
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Sun Bowl Stadium / Sun Bowl Hosting
since 1936
more
Sun Bowl Stadium (built 1963, expanded multiple times to 51,000 capacity) hosts the annual Sun Bowl game — one of CFB's oldest postseason bowls (since 1936). UTEP plays home games here + the Sun Bowl game brings two national teams to El Paso every December. The dual-use venue + the Franklin Mountains backdrop + the desert setting create a unique CFB venue identity.
Mike Price Era (2004-2012)
since 2004
more
Mike Price's 2004-2012 tenure — after his Alabama firing pre-Tide-coaching-debut — produced the program's modern peak. 2005 8-4 + Houston Bowl appearance + multiple bowl years. Price's pass-offense identity + the recruiting reach into Texas + the El Paso community connection define the era.
Picks Up Hand Sign
since 2000s
more
'Picks Up' — UTEP fans' hand-sign gesture (two fingers held aloft like a mining pickaxe) — is the Miners' identity marker. The mining-heritage symbol + El Paso mining-town historical roots + the gesture's distinct shape make UTEP fan identity uniquely Texas-borderland.
Cultural identity
2021 L
2014 L
2010 L
2005 L
2004 LReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
208
[Postgame Thread] Rice Defeats UTEP 37-30
125
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats Stephen F. Austin 24-14
119
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats Abilene Christian 17-13
105
[Postgame Thread] UTEP Defeats ULM 31-6
All-time top community posts
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