UTEP Spring Football Cancelled; Athletic Facilities Closed

UTEP Director of Athletics Jim Senter announced the cancellation of the remaining spring football practices and the 2020 UTEP football spring game.

Along with this announcement made on Wednesday, the UTEP athletics facilities will be closed to student-athletes indefinitely beginning at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and student-athletes will not be allowed to train on campus.

“These measures have been taken with the safety of our student-athletes as the highest priority,” Senter said. “We continue to preach to all of our student-athletes and staff the importance of practicing social distancing and good hygiene during this unprecedented time.”

Last week, Conference USA announced that all spring sports competitions would be suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak across the country.

The UTEP women's basketball team was slated to face Old Dominion last Thursday in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Instead of finishing their season, it came to an abrupt end.

"This decision was made with the safety of our fans, student-athletes, coaches and staff as the utmost priority," Senter said in a press release last week. "We will monitor the situation in the coming weeks in consultation with Conference USA Leadership, the University Administration and each respective varsity sport team and make modifications as needed."

Prior to the cancellation of spring ball, the UTEP football team practiced more than a handful of times. Some Conference USA football teams didn't get the chance to practice at all during the spring, so at least UTEP got some reps in.

At the same time, the Miners needed as many spring practices as they can get. Offensively, they will have a new starting quarterback and new tools around him. Defensively, they will implement a 4-3 defense, which also requires a good amount of practice time.