Miner Football Probation Baffles “Fans”

Two UTEP athletic programs are on NCAA probation. The Miners football and softball teams have each been placed on probation for “Level 2” violations. As Adrian Broaddus wrote in a recent ESPN 600 article, the offenses mostly center around having too many “coaches” working with the student-athletes and having too many hours of practice time.

I don’t know too much about the softball program, but I’ve spoken to several Miner football fans that are confused.

“Too many coaches?!? Too MANY coaches?? I’m a season ticket holder and one thing the Miners DON’T look like they have TOO much of is coaching!” , one fan was quoted as saying

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Another booster said, “If this was cheating, WHO did they cheat? The 11 teams that beat them last season?”

And yet another Miner fan said, “If you’re going to cheat, for Godssake, CHEAT! Too many coaches?!? They need to be like Nick Nolte in “Blue Chips” and buy Anfernee Hardaway’s mom a house!”

Alright…I’ll be honest and admit that I made all of those “quotes” up. But, I know a LOT of Miner fans and those all sound like the kind of things they WOULD say.

It reads like these violations were more of the “mistake” or “lack of oversight” variety. Letting a “specialist” perform “coaching” duties is a fairly mild violation, hence, Level II probation. Especially as it pertains to the football team, this isn’t so much of a “scandal” as it is an “oopsie”.

Ironically (or maybe fittingly) part of the punishment for the football team is going to be FEWER coaches.

“The number of countable coaches…will be reduced by one for six days of practice during the 2021-2022 academic year”.

And right when it looked like the extra coaching was starting to pay off! I mean, the Miners had THREE whole wins last season.