Tim Floyd Retires Following Loss to Lamar, but Why?

In an unprecedented move, UTEP coach Tim Floyd announced his retirement following the Miners' 66-52 loss to Lamar on Monday night.  The Miners have now lost their last five games and are 1-5 on the season.  Without question this is a mind boggling move by Floyd to retire on the same day that Jim Senter was introduced as UTEP's new athletic director.

To say that Floyd may have been on the hot seat with Senter at the helm now may be an understatement, but at this point who knows what would have happened had he stayed on, finished the season, and done so in a poor manner.  It goes without saying that Floyd was protected in a sense while Bob Stull was the AD at UTEP, clearly though, this wouldn't have been the case with Jim Senter, as he has no previous ties to the university.

To be completely honest, Coach Floyd knew his time had come, and after numerous ineffective years as UTEP's coach, threw in the towel because some things simply aren't meant to be, this clearly being one of them.  This is truly an astonishing time for UTEP athletics, had I told you six months ago that Sean Kugler, Tim Floyd and Bob Stull would no longer be here, you would have told me that I was nuts.

Imagine how Jim Senter feels, welcome to El Paso, oh and by the way, all you have to do is hire a new football coach after the squad finished with their worst record ever in program history at 0-12, the men's basketball team stinks again and is now coach-less, and you also have to try and win over a fan base that is sick and tired of losing.  A daunting task, without question, but certainly all of  these goals are obtainable in time.

How will you remember Tim Floyd's tenure with the program?  He was 138-99 in 8 seasons with two NIT appearances, and no NCAA tournament births.  Numerous high profile players transferred while he was here as well.  When Floyd was hired back in 2010 so many El Pasoans were hopeful that he would help the program return to prominence; sadly this never came to fruition.

Some will speculate that Coach Floyd stepped down because of his health, as he has not been feeling well as of late.  In the end though, we may never know why Tim Floyd retired on this late November evening , ending a 42 year career.  It was the only news that could have overshadowed UTEP introducing a new AD for the first time in the last 19 years.