A Look Back: Tim Floyd Retires Three Years Ago from UTEP
Updated at 4:31 p.m. MST to include Lew Stallworth.
This past weekend—Friday, Nov. 27, to be exact—was the third year anniversary of Tim Floyd's abrupt retirement from the UTEP men's basketball program.
It was a seemingly normal game against Lamar on a rare Monday night for the Miners. I can guarantee no one in the Don Haskins Center had a clue that after a 1-5 start and after nine seasons at the helm of UTEP, Floyd had enough and would call it quits minutes following the game.
"I'm officially retired. I'm looking forward to whatever life brings," Floyd said in his post-game press conference. "I'm going to try and have some fun, and I don't know what that means. We'll figure it out."
Six games into his ninth season with the program, Floyd was out. He finished his UTEP coaching career with a 138-99 record and gave the Miners a postseason win. The 2010-11 season was his best when the team finished 25-10 and second in the conference. He was a long-time assistant coach to Don Haskins and coached at numerous places including the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans, Iowa State, USC and Idaho.
If you're a UTEP fan, how do you view the Floyd era, now four years removed? Do you think it was successful at points? Do you think that he overachieved or underachieved given his talent roster? From his initial hiring to apparent run-ins with guys like Terry Winn, the Floyd era was a roller coaster for many local basketball fans.
Since Floyd's departure, the Miners have gone 36-51 including 26-36 under third-year head coach Rodney Terry. Over the past five seasons (2015-20), the Miners have seen 20-plus scholarship players enter the transfer portal and leave to play elsewhere, averaging over four players leaving after each season.
Here is a list of the players:
- UTEP (2015-18) - 3.1 points, 0.9 assists - 8 starts
- McNeese State (2018-19) - 4.7 points, 3.0 assists - 21 starts
- UTEP (2015-16) - 1.3 points, 1.4 rebounds per game - 16 games played
- Wyoming (2016-18) - 0.7 points, 0.4 rebounds - 15 games played
- UTEP (2015-16) - Redshirted
- Casper College (Wyoming, 2016-17) - 13.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game
- University of Portland (2017-19) - 10.0 points, 3.7 rebounds per game
- UTEP (2015-16) - 12 points and 5 rebounds in 15 games
- Lincoln College (2019-20) - NAIA Conference Tournament Champions
- UTEP (2015-16) - Appeared in one game for UTEP
- Butler Community College - 6.7 points, 3.6 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game
- UTEP (2016-17) - 3.4 points, 3.7 rebounds - 2 starts in 32 games played
- Idaho State (2018-19) - 9.9 points, 3.7 rebounds through 28 starts
- Creighton (2019-20) - 3.0 points, 3.6 rebounds in 28 games
- UTEP (2016-17) - 3.3 points, 13.5 minutes in 31 games played
- UTA Transfer (2018-19); Texas A&M Commerce (2019-20) - 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.25 steals in 20 games played
- Northwest Oklahoma State (2020-21)
- UTEP (2015-16) - Led UTEP in scoring at 15.4 points and averaged 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
- Professional basketball - Germani Basket Brescia (2016-18); Mitteldeutscher BC (2018-19); Atenas (2019-20); MKS Dabrowa Gornicaza (2020-Present)
- UTEP (2017-18) - Left UTEP before the start of the 2017 season
- Parkside (2018-20) Averaged 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee redshirt junior (2020-21)
- UTEP (2015-17 - All-C-USA Freshman (10 points, 6.4 rebounds); Left team in 2016-17 season
- UTRGV (2017-19) - 54 games played, 26.2 minutes per game; 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds; Professional player in Ukrainian Super League
- UTEP (2015-16) - 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists through 19 games (7.9 min per game)
- Citadel (2018-19) - All-Southland Conference Second Team - averaged 20.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists in 33.4 min. per game
- UTEP (2016-17) - 12 points, 8 rebounds in 8 games played
- High Point University (2018-19) - 4.1 points, 2.5 rebounds; 2019-20 NAIA All America Honorable Mention - 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists
- UTEP (2016-17) - 9 points, 11 rebounds in 16 games played
- Tulsa (2018-19) -2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds - 31 games played; 9.2 minutes per game
- Eastern Michigan (2019-20) - 5.1 points, 0.9 rebounds - 23 games; 15.3 mpg
- UTEP (2017-18) - Appeared in one game; redshirted for UTEP
- East LA College (2018-20) & Sacramento State (2020-21)
- UTEP (2017-18) - Sat out during his prep season
- Philadephia Ballers junior college basketball member (2018)
- UTEP (2017-18) - 4.4 points, 3.1 rebounds per game - 24 games played
- University of Louisiana - 8.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks - 21.5 mpg
- UTEP (2017-18) - 7.2 points, 4.2 rebounda - 17.8 mpg in 25 games played
- Wichita State (2019-20) - 7.4 points, 5.4 rebounds - 27 starts - 23.6 mpg
- UTEP (2017-18) - 9.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.0 assist per game - 23.6 mpg
- Carleton Ravens (2020, Canada) - 21 points in U Sports Men's Basketball Championships
- UTEP (2017-19) - 4.0 points, 1.9 assists per game - 20.4 minutes per game
- St. Mary's (2019-20) - 13.9 points, 5.2 assists, 39 steals; 3rd Team All Conference
- UTEP - (2017-19) - 13.6 points (led UTEP in 2018-19), 4.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game
- NM State - 7.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists in 22 minutes per game
- UTEP (2019) - Didn't come to UTEP, elected to transfer out
- Navarro College (2019-20) - Averaged 19.2 points in five games played (NJCAA)
- UTEP (2019) - Didn't come to UTEP, elected to transfer out
- Utah (2019-20) - Redshirted
- UTEP (2018-19) - 3.2 points, 3.4 rebounds - 12.4 minutes per game
- Kansas State (2020-21) - 8.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks - 2/2 games started
- UTEP (2018-20) - 8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals
- Stephen F. Austin - transferred (2020-21)
- UTEP (2018-20) - 7.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists - 22 starts
- University of Miluaukee-Wisconsin (sitting out per NCAA transfer rules)
- UTEP (2019-20) - 4.3 points, 1.0 rebounds, 43.5% FG - 9.5 mpg in 24 games
- Fresno State (2020-21) - 13 points, 3.0 rebounds in 29 minutes (1/1 start)
- UTEP (2019-20) - 3.6 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.5 steals - 15.9 minutes in 25 games
- Georgia Southern - 2/2 games started - 15 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals - 25.5 mpg
- UTEP (2019-20) - 2.6 points, 4.0 rebounds - 11.8 mpg in 14 games
- Coppin State (2020-21) - 22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals - 37 minutes vs. Duke
Four years later now and the Miners are still vying for a postseason win. The Terry era has brought to El Paso some highly touted recruits, though some have transferred away. Coach Terry and the Miners are currently 1-0 after their season debut win against UTPB and will feature a tough non-conference slate featuring St. Mary's (Dec. 8) and Arizona State (Dec. 16), with room to possibly add more teams.
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