Coaching Profiles: Getting to Know UTEP's New Assistant Coaches

As the new UTEP men's basketball regime starts to recruit players and begins their journey in El Paso, filing a coaching staff is atop the list of priorities for head coach Joe Golding.

Two coaches have joined Golding's staff—Stephen F. Austin associate head coach Jeremy Cox and Abilene Christian special assistant to the head coach Bryen Spriggs. Both coaching moves were first reported by Colin Deaver of KTSM. Golding will still have two assistant coaching positions to fill in order to round out his coaching staff.

Jeremy Cox, Stephen F. Austin Associate HC (2016-2021)

A savant in the sport of college basketball, Jeremy Cox brings over two decades of basketball coaching experience to the new Miners coaching staff. He's coached at the Division I level and the JUCO ranks, serving stints with some familiar names.

Following his NJCAA National Championship as a head coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith (2006), Cox joined Billy Gillespie's staff at Texas A&M in 2006. The Aggies went 27-7 and reached the Sweet 16 in the 2006-07 season. Cox joined Gillespie for his Kentucky stint (2007-09, 40-27 overall), where the Wildcats went to the NCAA Tournament and made an NIT appearance.

Stan Heath added him to his staff at South Florida (2009-11), where Cox was an assistant coach before joining Doc Sadler's staff at Nebraska (2011-12). Sadler was fired after the 2012 season in Nebraska and as a result, Cox was named the head coach for Southern Idaho (JUCO). With Southern Idaho, Cox won a conference title and his team went 27-5.

He reentered the Division I ranks by joining Sadler's staff at Southern Miss (2014-16). Under the previous coach Donnie Tyndall, the Golden Eagles were hit with NCAA violations during this time, hurting their postseason chances and recruiting.

Cox left Southern Miss for an associate head coaching spot with Kyle Keller at Stephen F. Austin and found a ton of success in the Southland Conference. Stephen F. Austin went 104-46 (.693), including a 73-15 conference record, over five seasons. However, after it was uncovered that there was an administrative error in declaring student-athletes eligible, the school had to vacate hundreds of wins across multiple sports from 2013 to 2019, including all 117 men's basketball wins from the 2014–15 to 2018–19 seasons.

Bryen Spriggs, Abilene Christian special assistant to the head coach (2020)

It is unclear whether Bryen Spriggs will be an assistant coach on Golding's staff, or if he will work under another role on the staff. The young coach first joined Golding's staff in 2020 at Abilene Christian where he got his first year of coaching at the Division I level under his belt. He was the head coach at the Community College of Beaver County in Monaca, Pa. At the JUCO level, Spriggs posted a 50-8 overall record and won the WPCC conference championship.

More UTEP news

Along with some of the other names mentioned on the UTEP recruiting radar, a new name emerged out of the JUCO ranks. Jorell Saterfield, who graduated from Mayfield Las Cruces, received an offer from UTEP as he announced on his Twitter page. As a 6-foot-4 guard, Saterfield averaged 12.1 points and shot 40% from 3-point range through 31 games played at Ranger College.

He's earned offers from the likes of Tarleton State, Incarnate Word, Nicholls State, UT Arlington, Western Michigan, IUPUI, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and UIC.

And a quick Rodney Terry check-in from Austin