Dana Dimel is the Perfect Hire for UTEP Football

UTEP introduced Kansas State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel as their 26th head coach in program history this afternoon, and it was a remarkable hire by the university.  Let's face it, UTEP needs to improve their all around team in a desperate manner following their worst season in the history of the program by finishing 0-12.  As we all know too well, their offense was vanilla and flat last season, and defensively things weren't much better.

By hiring the offensive coordinator from K-State in Dimel, it proves a tremendous desire to fix their scoring woes.  After all, Coach Dimel has a plethora of experience as a head coach at Wyoming from 1997-1999, and Houston from 2000-2002, and was an assistant for two Power Five conference teams in Arizona and K-State.  Combine that with the fact that he coached under Wildcats' legendary leader Bill Snyder from 2009-2017, and you've got quite an experienced individual taking over.  He also played for Kansas State for a few seasons as well.

Coach Dimel's offense was rather well balanced last season as they averaged 360 total yards per game, as well as 182 passing ypg, and 184 rushing ypg.  It was noted that Coach Dimel loves to focus on the spread offense and mentioned that he used every formation while with the Wildcats.  He also helped develop 2012 Heisman finalist quarterback Collin Klein.  Yes, he has a head coaching record of 30-39, but again, at UTEP fans should expect a hire like Dimel, a prominent assistant coach, however, one who has head coaching experience is always a plus.

He helped transform K-State into a legitimate program once again, including winning seasons during six of the eight years he was at the program, and seven bowl appearances as well.  A few of the more prestigious post season appearances were the Fiesta, Cotton, Liberty and Alamo bowls.  Did I mention that the man has recruited heavily in the state of Texas as well?  It is imperative to have a head coach who knows our state and plenty of high school coaches, which Dimel mentioned in his press conference this afternoon.

I commend UTEP for the hire, it seems as though that Coach Dimel, all be it will have an up hill battle in front of him, has the potential to build a solid team here.  His attitude and philosophies are perfect for the job, and he noted that academics and attitude will be something that are key focus points.  Only time will tell as to whether Dimel's system wlll work here, but overall it seems as though the future looks bright for UTEP football, as this is the first of many steps needed to lead the team back to a bowl game, and finally win one again.