From The Broadcast Booth 2024 #2

6/12/2024 11:12:00 AM

When 34-year old Scotty Walden was introduced as the 27^th head coach in Miner Football history last December, I like many others assumed that he was the youngest that UTEP had ever hired for the position. Upon further investigation and much to my surprise, how wrong we all were!

In fact, eight of the previous 26 UTEP head football coaches were younger than Walden at the time of their appointment.

25-year old Tommy Dwyer, the first head coach at the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1914, began a trend that saw five of the first eight at the university under the age of 30.

Here is the list of the other 20-somethings and the year they took over as the Miners head coach:
23 Jack C. Vowell 1922
24 George B. Powell 1924
27 Mack Saxon 1929
29 Walter Milner 1942

Eight others arrived in El Paso in their 30's:
31 Thomas C. Holiday 1921
31 Warren Harper 1963
32 Billy Alton 1981 (interim)
36 Ben Collins 1957
36 David Lee 1989
38 Bum Phillips 1962
39 H.E. Van Surdam 1920
39 "Cactus" Jack Curtice 1946

Most common were the nine imported in their 40's:
41 Tommy Hudspeth 1972
41 Bob Stull 1986
42 Bobby Dobbs 1965
42 Bill Michael 1977
43 Gary Nord 2000
44 Mike Brumbelow 1950
44 Gil Bartosh 1974
47 Sean Kugler 2013
48 Bill Yung 1982

Now that your curiosity has been fully awakened, who was the oldest recruited to serve at UTEP? Mike Price, 58 upon landing in the Sun City in 2004.

Others 50 and above to take a turn with the Miners:
50 E.J. Stewart 1927
53 Charlie Bailey 1993
55 Dana Dimel 2018

39 has been the average age of the Miners' 27 head football coaching hires.

Here are some additional facts regarding some of those that have coached the Miners:
Dwyer has been the only native El Pasoan to do so.

Dwyer (due to low squad numbers), Milner, and Kugler were the only former Miner players.

Saxon, Curtice, Brumbelow, Collins, and Stull either were while coaching or after served as athletic director. Collins hired eventual Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Haskins.

Saxon, Curtice, Brumbelow, Collins, Dobbs and Stull have all been inducted into the UTEP Athletics Hall of Fame.

Dwyer, Vowell, Powell and Saxon simultaneously spent time as the Miners head basketball coach.

Brumbelow (1956 Border Conference) and Nord (2000 Western Athletic Conference) are the only ones to have secured a league football championship for the Miners.

Saxon (1), Curtice (2), Brumbelow (3), Dobbs (2), Stull (1), Nord (1), Price (3), Kugler (1), and Dimel (1) have taken the Miners to bowl games.

Curtice, Brumbelow, and Price are the only ones to have brought the Miners to bowl games in back-to-back seasons.

Brumbelow (2), Dobbs (2, including the program's last in 1967), and Curtice (1) are the only ones to have scored bowl victories.

Brumbelow is the only one to have directed the Miners to bowl wins in back-to-back seasons.

Brumbelow is the winningest by percentage (.651) followed by Curtice (.638). Only eight have a plus .500 winning percentage.

Saxon lasted the longest among them all (13 seasons) and correspondingly has the most victories (66).

Van Surdam (1972) is the only one elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dobbs played in the Sun Bowl game for Tulsa in 1942.

Stewart spent time as head football coach at Nebraska, Clemson and Texas plus head basketball coach at Purdue prior to joining the Miners.

Phillips (Oilers, Saints) and Hudspeth (Lions) would become NFL head coaches.

Hope that you enjoyed this exercise as much as I did chasing it down!

Print Friendly Version