UTEP football coach Sean Kugler says he’s proud of his players.
UTEP athletic director Bob Stull says he’s proud of them, too.
So should all El Pasoans.
The Miners suffered an almost incredible amount of injuries to starters, 17, this season. At times they had to go down to third stringers to fill positions.
But they all fought, scratched and clawed and came within a field goal of making a bowl game.
Some have asked, why all the injuries? They suggest that maybe the players were worked too hard, even before the season started, and they were more susceptible to injuries during the season. It’s a theory, and even Kugler is considering that as a possibility.
ON THE OTHER hand, Stull says, sometimes bad things just happen, like opponents falling on a Miner’s leg and breaking it, or other such mishaps. It’s part of the game.
Stull, who coached the Miners to their winningest season ever, 10-3, in 1988, should know. He had his share of injuries, including losing his starting quarterback before a crucial game.
Yes, bad breaks happen, but you’ve got to love these 2015 football Miners. They didn’t know the word quit.
All of which bodes well for next year. Many of this year’s starters will be back bigger, stronger – and wiser.
TRIVIA QUESTION: When the National Football League and the American Football League merged, which three teams moved into the American Conference? Answer at end of column.
AND HOW about UTEP’s basketball teams? Okay, so the Miners men’s team lost at New Mexico State last Wednesday, but both the men and the women teams got off to terrific starts.
Charles Hill, one of El Paso’s finest analysts, put it in perspective. He writes:
“Last Saturday (Nov. 28) may have been the best single day performance by UTEP athletic teams of all time with the exception of the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship. Here is a recap: “The UTEP men’s basketball team won the Corpus Christi Coastal Basketball Classic by beating Southern Illinois on Friday and then by defeating Colorado State 99-90 in double overtime after trailing by 17 points at half time. UTEP was ranked 7th in ESPN’s RPI poll on Sunday and 4th in the CBS RPI poll.
“The UTEP women won the 5th annual UTEP Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament by defeating UC Riverside on Friday night and beating Idaho State on Saturday night. Neither game was close and Jenzel Nash was named Tournament MVP. “The UTEP football team closed out its season by defeating North Texas to finish the season at 5-7. The Miners could have won 8 or 9 games without all the injuries.
“I can’t remember any other single day where UTEP has performed so well. “
MATT SLOAN, one of my golfing buddies, tells the story of an old man who was a pretty good golfer in his younger days but gave up the game for some 25 years because of health and personal reasons.
The old man took up the game again in his later years but, thin and frail, he could only play nine holes and couldn’t break 40 anymore. In fact, he had a hard time breaking 45. He declared one day that he would die happy if he could break 40 just one more time.
And one magical day, at the age of 88, it happened. Sloan played that day with him and reports that the old duffer was happy as a bird after he shot a 39 by miraculously hitting seven greens in regulation. And, Sloan says, the score could have been even better if the old duffer hadn’t three-putted two greens.
Did the old duffer retire after his 39? No. Now he says he wants to do it again.
Which proves old duffers never die, they just keep swinging away.
ANSWER to trivia question: Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.