UTEP66: You Can Help UTEP Earn Wins 7

Avila: Athletic Openings Need To Be Filled 8

Perez Grows Up 11

The Final Word 14

VOL 1 ISSUE 19 JULY 20, 2011

MINERILLUSTRATED

MINERILLUSTRATED

VOL I ISSUE 19 JULY 20, 2011

Summer is the perfect time to sit back and think.

Personally, I tend to use this time to reflect on the previous year’s sports’ seasons. What could have been, what went wrong and what needs to be fixed. My pessimistic side wants to dwell on all the mishaps that cost “my teams” their seasons. But ever an optimist, my thoughts eventually wander back, and I start looking toward the upcoming season. What can be, what will go right and what has been fixed. I am fairly sure I’m not the only one who does this. Fans, athletes, coaches; they all use this time of year to mentally prepare for the next season. As a fan, it’s easy to list what needs to be done to make this season the “one,” but as an athlete and a coach, there are more factors to consider than the average person is aware of. It’s these factors that have been weighing on my mind lately; factors like athletic budgets, loss of revenues, staff cuts, and NCAA sanctions. Factors that shouldn’t affect athletes and coaches as they use these final weeks of summer to prepare for the start of the season. But at UTEP, these factors are casting a shadow over the upcoming season. It’s hard enough knowing that the Miners are going into one of their toughest football seasons in recent history with a fairly young team, but then you add the loss of four athletic scholarships, two coaches, and a key player along with dismally low season ticket sales and unfilled positions in the athletic director’s department, and it makes it almost impossible to look toward this season with anything but a negative outlook. Chris addresses some of these factors in his editorial, and though he brings up some touchy topics, they nonetheless need to be addressed. Likewise, UTEP66 also brings up a factor negatively affecting the Miners this season: fan support. Josh notes the challenges of recruiting at a mid-major university and how this will come into play in future Miner seasons. This week’s issue is a collection of the staff’s reflections and thoughts on the upcoming season because as I said, I’m not the only one who uses this time of year to reflect. And though we address some tough issues this week, ultimately, we at MI are optimists. We are all looking toward the upcoming season through “orange-tinted glasses” in anticipation of what it will bring.

Rebecca Frazier

a publication of Shamrock Media LLC

CHRIS AVILAPRESIDENT

REBECCA FRAZIEREDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JEFF TAYLORCHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

GUS CONTRERASANGEL LUNA

ALEX MORALESJOSH PUGA“UTEP66”

STAFF WRITERS

DANNY LEVARIODIRECTOR OF BUSINESS

OPERATIONS

SUZETTE THOMPSONMAGAZINE DESIGN

Letters to the editor, general feedback and advertising

inquiries:show@minerillustrated.com

Cover photo: Sophomore Mike Perez enjoyed Open

Gym with a monstrous dunk in the Foster Stevens practice

gym. Image: Chris Avila

From The EDITOR

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 4

readerRESPONSE

With another issue comes another week of comments from the readers of Miner Illustrated. Enjoy this week’s comments!

Scouting Mine for June June 12 I hope CTF is looking at some PF’s and C’s cuz i don’t think we’re gonna make it with 6’7 PFs and 200 pound C’s…

Bobby

Rest assured Bobby, Floyd and his staff are always looking to bolster the front court. Actually the 2011 class features a couple of players (PF/C) that fit your criteria with Cedrick Lang (6-9, 230) and Hooper Vint (6-10,220). Based on some summer workouts the MI staff was able to attend, Miner fans should be pleasantly surprised with the new UTEP big men as they continue to hit the weights and develop under the coaching staff. Thanks for the comment.

Josh Puga, Staff Writer

Frazier: Future of Sports Questionable I feel the same way too…but honestly it’s probably for the better! I’m actually glad the NCAA is going after the BCS schools like blood hounds because for far too long have the Big Six schools enjoyed the money profits, prestige, and careless behavior for the past few years. Although it’s saddening, don’t look at the empty half of the glass…this new “zero tolerance” behavior could help the little guys like UTEP when it concerns recruiting! Now high school athletes will realize just what the ramifications could be when “X” school is offering them bribes and handouts. The recruiting in the future could have more disparity and equal opportunities for schools to get the athletes the education they need.

MinerNiner

It appeared that MI staff writer Gus Contreras hit a nerve with some people when he wrote his June 2 editorial on what he would like to see in the next golf coach before the announcement of Scott Lieberwirth as the new head coach last week.

Contreras: What It Takes to be the UTEP Golf CoachHow can you presume to imply that current players have not been coached? Where are you getting your information? Did you go out regularly and watch practices? Additionally, there was never a conflict of interest in the hiring of Coach Todd. He was brought in when the team was in desperate need of a coach that brought honor and respectability to the golf program; the previous guy was less than honorable. And as a reminder, his contract was renewable annually; the school was not held to a multi-year contract. If he was so bad at it, why then did the school keep him around for 12 years, and why did the Century Club have continued success in their fundraising efforts? I will tell you why. Because he was loyal to El Paso and to UTEP, and he had roots in the community, and most importantly, he mentored young men in golf and life producing student-athletes ranked in the top ten in the NCAA APR ratings nationally. Not to mention, he brought endorsement deals for equipment and clothing, which saved the golf program thousands of dollars each year. Shame on you for continuing to throw rocks at him; he deserves at the very least a thank you for his efforts with a program lacking in so much to be competitive in golf on a national level. I wonder why there has not been an interview with Coach Todd since his contract was not renewed to make your editorial fair and unbiased?

Steve

I would like to know where you get your information on the lack of “structure” you think Coach Todd brought to the program over the past 12 years? Did you or anyone from the Athletic Department ever come out during practice sessions

or to tournaments to watch the structure of coaching or play? No, you didn’t! The bigger question should beg what facilities have been provided for the Golf program since the 1980′s that would allow for recruitment of top high school players? And please explain why you think junior golfers would be attracted to El Paso when they are being recruited by ASU, U of A, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Rice, SMU, UNM, and so on? Let’s not continue to bash Coach Todd; let’s instead look at the bigger problem that won’t be fixed with a new coach.

Eric Hoos

I think these results speak for themselves. I do know a lot about the program and even have friends on the team. I just don’t think his results were enough for him to keep his position.

http://utepathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/050107aaa.htmlhttp://utepathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/recaps/042208aaa.htmlhttp://utepathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/recaps/042109aaa.htmlhttp://utepathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/recaps/042109aaa.html

Gus Contreras, Staff Writer

As we get more responses in about any of the work within the magazine or online, we’ll post the best ones here. If we think your opinion or point of view just knocks us off our seats, then we’ll send you a little surprise as our way of saying thanks.

Make sure to send your thoughts to our email (show@minerillustrated.com) because you never know when you might get rewarded for speaking your mind!

percentage of .09. Of the 44 goals made, 11 were made by Katie Dorman, 11 by Brittany Kindzierski and another five were made by Jade Babcoack. Tess Hall and Skye Schultz each contributed four goals apiece while Tori Martyn and Gina Soto added three goals each.

The number of individual wins by the UTEP tennis team last season.

The women finished last season with a .427 winning percentage, closing out the year with 82 wins and 110 losses. The top players on the squad were Rebeca Calvillo and Ximena Fuentes, who each ended the season on the plus side. Calvillo held a 19-8 record while Fuentes ended just above the .500 mark with a 16-13 record. Teammate Alexandra Glebova had a good season, finishing with 10 wins. Marie LeBlond, Martina Trierweiler and Gabi Vazquez each had nine wins. Dariya Abdrakhmanova added seven wins while Carolina Deluca finished with three wins for the year. The women were just as successful in their doubles matches, ending the season with a .478 winning percentage.

The men’s golf team shot a 309-301-299 for a total of 909 in the championship tournament, putting them in last place for the duration of the tournament. Freshman Roberto Ruiz finished in the top 10 individually, tying for 7th place by shooting a 215 total (73-71-71). Luke Ovenden tied for 45th place with a 230 (78-79-73), Ryan Fioretti tied for 51st with a 235 (78-80-76) and David Persons and Devin Miertschin tied for 53rd by shooting a 236. MI expects recently named head coach Scott Lieberwirth looks to improve on this finish.

The total goals made by the UTEP soccer team last season, as

opposed to only 22 made by their opponents. The women’s soccer team made 44 out of 330 attempts, which amounted to 2.32 goals per game. The Miners’ opponents made only 22 out of 245 attempts. The Miners had a .133 shooting percentage last season, which made seem low, but it overshadowed their opponents dismal shooting

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 5

The cumulative GPA for the 2010-11 UTEP

men’s cross country team. High enough to have the team named Division I All-Academic team out of 152 institutions from 31 different conferences. Last year’s team, not only performed well in the classroom, they proved why they are Miner athletes. As a whole, the team finished 8th in the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship. The women’s team was also named 2010 Division I All-Academic team with a cumulative GPA of 3.13. The women finished in 7th place at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships. In order for a team to be named All-Academic, they must have a cumulative GPA over 3.0 and start five at their respective NCAA regional championship.

The place the UTEP men’s golf team finished in the C-USA championship

this past season.

In millions of dollars, the revenue generated by home game ticket sales for the UTEP football and men’s basketball teams last year.

This number amounts to approximately $820,000 per home football game and $205,000 per home basketball game. In terms of actual tickets sold: $820,000 represents 29,350 attendees to every Miner football game last season while $205,000 represents 8,959 attendees to every men’s basketball game. Of the 9.46 million generated in revenue, 4.93 million was made by the football team while the basketball team brought in 4.53 million, proving that Miner fans almost equally supported both teams last season. Though this number is quite impressive, it is actually down nearly a million dollars in the past three seasons.

11

9.46

3.0

44

82

by theNUMBERS

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 6

minerPRIDE T-SHIRTcontest -

EXTENDEDIn honor of our three year anniversary, MI is hosting a Miner Pride T-Shirt Contest. What would you wear to a football or basketball game that shows off your Miner pride? We are asking our readers to submit their t-shirt ideas to show@minerillustrated.com by July 23, 2011. The winner of the contest will have their design printed as this year’s MI t-shirt and receive a family pack of t-shirts (5 total).

Contest Rules: • Individuals must be 18 years or older to participate.• Individuals must be US Citizens to participate.• Entries need to be submitted by 11:59 pm on July 23, 2011. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WEEK TO SUBMIT!!• Entries must be scanned and emailed to show@minerillustrated.com. • Entries must be either in black and white or in three-color design using an orange shirt as the base color. • Entries must be positive in connotation (no bashing the Miner opponents).• The MI staff will select the top 3 entries and our readers will vote for their favorite design.• The winner will receive 5 free shirts (in the sizes of their choice). • Once a design is submitted, MI has the right to use the design as they see fit.

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YOUR SUPPORT CAN HELP THE MINERS EARN WINS

fanatical Sun Bowl could translate into a couple of unexpected victories. Switching to basketball, head coach Tim Floyd faces a similar challenge this year with the addition of ten new players to the roster and an improved schedule. There is little doubt Floyd will field an exciting young team. But as with any young team, the Miners will go through some growing pains this season. Still, I believe that by the conference tournament, the Miners will have a very sound basketball program. What this team needs is support from the fans. Packed home games will go a long way in accelerating the progress and confidence of these young Miners. After all, this year’s team will be building the base for a bright future in Miner basketball. More importantly, with the changing conference environment, it is even more critical for the fans to step up to the plate and support the Miner football and basketball programs; even if the seasons do not meet the fans expectations. Why? UTEP sports are approaching a critical juncture. Conference realignments have played havoc with the structure of several conferences and there are more changes on the horizon. Over the past several months, I’ve read posts and talked with friends, and I’ve come away amazed with the expectations. Could UTEP be a member of the Mountain West, the Big 12, or a revamped Southwest Conference?Most of these scenarios were unlikely two years ago when realignment talks surfaced; today, they are all still long shots. UTEP has rarely been on the top of any conference’s expansion list due to the football program, location and TV market. This changed slightly six years ago when the Miners average 47k plus for their home games and had

a winning football program. UTEP’s basketball tradition has always been there. But basketball is not football; it’s football that drives conference realignment. With the Miners’ home football attendance dipping to under 30K, the program has little to offer the Big 12, a new Southwest Conference or arguably the Mountain West. If there are deflections from C-USA, UTEP could easily be left out in the cold. The future of UTEP’s athletic programs lies in support for UTEP football and basketball. El Paso doesn’t have the deep pocket boosters that most Division I schools have. UTEP, more than most C-USA schools, relies on football and basketball attendance to pay for the majority of their sports’ programs. The university’s financial commitment for athletics is sub-standard, and dwindling football attendance and only one sellout in basketball game hasn’t helped an already taxed athletic department. So how can fans help make UTEP a more marketable school? For most of us, it is by supporting the teams by attending games. It’s a twofold win for the program. A packed Sun Bowl and Don would do wonders for the young players’ confidence and in the win column. It would also reestablish El Paso as a community that can support college athletics. The other options aren’t as attractive. Fans can stay home and get on the band wagon when the football program goes 13-0 and the basketball team makes the Sweet 16. Or do nothing, in which case UTEP might find themselves a member of a watered down eastern-based conference, leaving the Miners in a similar situation as NMSU. In most cases, fans don’t entirely decide the fate of a school’s athletic programs. But UTEP may just be the exception this season.

UTEP66

As most fans, I live for the start of the UTEP football and basketball seasons. Regardless of past results, the slate is always wiped clean and visions of past Miner glories shade reality. I confidently say, “A break here, a break there and a breakout year for our quarterback, and it easily could be a big year. Maybe 8-4.” Reality tries to creep in, but I steadfastly choose to see things through my orange-tinted glasses. This year, both the Miner football and basketball programs go into their seasons with many unknowns after experiencing huge graduation losses. National periodicals predict the Miner football team to go 4-8. The basketball team is also expected to be down this season. So why am I excited about the upcoming season? Simple. It’s Miner football, and it represents the city of El Paso. I recognize this year’s team faces a tough schedule, daunting losses on the offense, an inexperienced quarterback and a tougher C-USA schedule. But putting all that aside, there’s a top three C-USA defense returning, a strong group of redshirted freshmen moving up, seven JC transfers who will probably see much playing time and a good kicking game. So what should we expect? A “blue collar” Miner football team. Expect to see a group of young men out their busting their butts. It will be exciting football with a defensive emphasis. Will it be enough to translate to a big season? Time will only tell. But I can assure you, if the El Paso fans pack up before the season opener, it will be a much tougher season than necessary. Nothing would help this year’s football team more than 40K crowds for each home game. A

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 7

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M

STULL NEEDS TO FILL POSITIONS ASAP

8

businessman would say, the way you take care of your budget is to bring more money in than you are spending by generating lots of revenue. That said, if the problem at hand is with revenue in the athletic department, scheduling payday games is only one solution to the problem. I understand that we live in an era of collegiate athletics where the big schools have tremendous deals on sponsorships, television rights, and a host of other factors in order to maintain the “higher” level of so-called competition. Unfortunately, mid-majors like UTEP aren’t able to pull in high revenue deals like the Texas Longhorns for something like a television network, and thus, they have to take payday football games like the Miners did a couple years back. Yet as my mind tries to wrap itself around UTEP’s situation, my question then becomes this: if you have to schedule reoccurring payday games to help generate revenue for

your department, then what does that say about the department as a whole? Bloomquist made the point in his article that attendance had been steadily dropping over the last couple years for football games, and there is no question that the decline coincides with the football team’s losses. Okay, I get that. Fans don’t want to see a losing product. But here’s the reality of the impact of the fans’ decision not to attend football games: since 2005, the average attendance at a Miner football game dropped from 47,899 to 29,350 people per game last season. The difference of 18,549 fans per game has potentially cost UTEP a loss of $374,689.80 per game using an average ticket cost of about $20. Take that amount and add it up for the whole season and it amounts to a whopping $2,248,138.80. That’s a lot of money that isn’t coming into the athletic department, and there’s no question that it puts a crimp on the budget. If the fans were

CHRIS AVILA

When I read Bret Bloomquist’s article on why UTEP football has to take bigger payday games in order to make money, I couldn’t help but think that there is so much more to the issue than simply scheduling a game for money. This isn’t to say the piece was not well written. In fact, I think it was. Bret did a god job in questioning the change in scheduling as football moves forward in the importance of getting a “payday” game every year. The payday game has become an important part of UTEP’s scheduling and a necessary evil to keep money coming into the athletic department. However, when I really began to think about the need for a payday game, the only sound reason I could think of was that UTEP was in desperate need of the money. This may indeed be the case, but if anyone is going to put the blame on someone, it isn’t as easy as you might think. Yes, Mike Price was quoted in the article as saying he should have won more games. We all know that should have happened so let’s not beat the dead horse any more than we have. There have been a number of games over the last three years where fans sat back at the end of the game and either began to drink their sorrows away or scratched their heads and wondered what the heck just happened. Simply, UTEP came up short. What’s done is done. But what gets me about the football program and all the scheduling of payday games over the last couple of years is that the football program isn’t the problem. Not completely at least. After thinking this over since the changes were announced some months ago, I kept coming back to the same problem: budget issues. As any good

A less than filled Sun Bowl has had a direct impact on the UTEP athletics budget. Jeff Taylor

coming to the games, how does UTEP go about getting them back? The fact of the matter is that UTEP is in a position where they need to generate revenue for the program to keep things afloat. There needs to be something that lights a fire in the hearts and minds of El Pasoans and makes them want to support the Miners through the purchase of season tickets, increased walk-up ticket sales and other money contributions, such as donations and merchandise purchases. UTEP athletics is more of a business with a CEO in athletic director Bob Stull and a staff of people, who are hired to take care of different aspects of the company, and just like corporations, there is a need to generate revenue in order to survive. This in turn means the company needs to have the best-qualified persons to handle these responsibilities. My concern isn’t the fans and whether or not they think Mike Price should be the head coach. It plays an important factor in getting people to the Sun Bowl, but before that can happen, you have to have people who can sell the UTEP athletics product to anyone and everyone year in and year out. Right now, there aren’t persons

staffed in key positions to handle the demands of the big company called UTEP Athletics, and that’s a huge problem. Payday games are one aspect of generating the revenue needed for the budget, but if UTEP is going to stay afloat, Stull has a tremendous challenge on his hands in finding talented people to fill those spots immediately. As I understand it, Stull needs to fill senior associate director Brian Wickstrom’s open position with a talented individual, who can pick up right where Wickstrom left off in generating revenue via donations to the school and take things to the next level. In addition to that, there is a marketing position that has not been filled for months alongside a video position and a recently opened graphics design position. What makes these positions important is that they all have a direct hand in generating revenue for the department, either through the courting of persons who donate to the department or the generation of marketing materials, such as the athletic posters, ads, or videos about the teams. These are critical positions, to say the least. Let’s say that the positions can’t be

filled in the same manner they were before, and there is cost cutting thanks to budget constraints. Stull could easily place an interim title here, get an intern to pick up some of the workload at no cost and continue on. My worry is that these tricks will only work for so long, and then what? Eventually something will have to give. The number one complaint I hear about UTEP athletics is that there isn’t any marketing to get the word out. Okay, perhaps there can be some improvement in this area, but think of it this way: if there isn’t money to spend and there isn’t enough staff working to get the word out, then how can you begin marketing an athletic event to make money? It’s a catch 22, and I’m not sure I have an answer. Quite honestly, I don’t know if Stull has an answer. At the end of the day, Stull needs to get people who want to work hard at solving this problem and get things turned around in his department. There needs to be a dramatic shift in the way UTEP Athletics does business and the longer the problem continues, the direr the situation will become. I just hope things get better quickly.

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 9

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 1 0

FRESHMAN NO LONGER: PEREZ GROWS INTO VETERAN ROLE ON TEAMGUS CONTRERAS

There was a time not too long ago when sophomore guard Mike Perez was walking down Gloard Road with his father to check out a last minute offer from UTEP. He didn’t know much about El Paso or UTEP’s storied history. All he knew at the time was that he accepted an offer to play basketball with an experienced team led by head coach Tim Floyd. An opportunity to play at St. John’s didn’t work out as planned so Perez followed a gut feeling that everything would work out if he came to UTEP. Little did he know that with every step he took down Glory Road towards the Don Haskins Center, he would learn much more than he ever thought he would. “I learned a lot of new things about basketball. Coach Floyd is a great coach and teaches a lot about defense,” said Perez about his first year at UTEP. “Coming out of high school, I really was more of an offensive threat, and I learned a lot about defense, a lot about team work and the hard work that it takes to survive playing college basketball.” “I learned how to take care of my body, but school most importantly [which] got a little carried away with, but I got that back,” Perez said. “I just know more about what to expect this year.” Perez averaged ten minutes a game in his freshman year with the Miners. A lot of that was due to the number of seniors with experience on the team. Still, in spite of all the experience on the team, Perez played a pivotal role when he subbed in, due to his ball control and passing ability. Perez may have had a limited role in shooting while on the floor, but he still managed to make three-pointers last year. Perez made eight of seventeen three’s he attempted and played in 28 games for the Miners. Obviously, he hopes to increase his role in the upcoming season. “There is no telling, but I hope to increase my role this year, and I hope to do that through hard work and showing the coaches that I have worked on my game this summer,” said Perez. “I just want to do whatever it takes to help the team win, but I hope to have an increased role on the team.” With an increased role comes more ball handling and that was one aspect of Perez’s game that showed he was a freshman last season. Perez turned the ball over 17 times at the beginning of the season, but he managed to only turn the ball over four times when conference play began. He will undoubtedly have to work hard on his ability to hold on to the ball this year; Perez knows that is an aspect of his game

that he must improve. “My decision making and my ball handling; last year at the beginning of the season I was committing a lot of turnovers,” said Perez about the aspects of his game he needs to improve on. “Part of it was my decision-making and part was my ball handling, and hopefully this year I can have those two squared away and look to improve on other aspects of my game. There is always room for improvement.” While Perez knows what he needs to work on, there on some parts of his game that are solid for such a young player. When in the gym practicing jump shots recently, Perez was quite accurate and displayed good form, which is to be expected of a player of his caliber. One aspect, however, that may surprise people is Perez’s ability to dunk the ball. Perez can really get air while on the court. Hopefully, he’ll be able to show this talent off for the fans in the upcoming season. Not surprisingly, the learning curve that comes with being a freshman can be a rough one, but having teammates that have been there and done that goes a long way. Perez was on a team that included recent graduates Julyan Stone, Randy Culpepper, and Christian Polk. During their time together on the squad, Perez was able to learn from his talented teammates what it takes to be not only a good basketball player but also a good student. “They were like big brothers to me,” said Perez about his former teammates Stone, Culpepper, and Polk. “They were my mentors and always helped me with the little things and showed me the little things, like how to work and how to approach things in school. They showed me how to deal with things being away from home, and I really feel like I developed a good brotherhood with them.” “Seeing two guys on the team that I was on and seeing them succeed and go on get a contract shows me that it can work, but it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication as they did for their four years.” Despite losing those players, there is one senior left on the team, forward Gabe McCulley, and Perez will be looking to McCulley for guidance this year. “Gabe is definitely going to be the leader because he’s been here through thick and thin, and he has a lot of experience,” said Perez. “He’s definitely somebody that us younger guys, including the freshman can look to lead us to the NCAA Tournament.” With a season under his belt, Perez is no longer the wide-eyed freshman he once was, but rather a veteran with a season’s experience. There are many new faces on the

Continued page 13

Sophomore Mike Perez is extremely focused as he pre-pares for his second season at UTEP. Chris Avila

Lounge and Patio

It’s not your average Cincinnati District watering hole.

Outdoor patio with anupscale atmosphere.

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 1 3

team that Perez has been playing with in open gym throughout the summer. These players are brand new to college basketball just like Perez was last year. Being on such a young team doesn’t faze Perez; he is excited about his new teammates. “We have a good group of guys coming in that are very skilled, but they need a little work in the weight room as every freshman does,” said Perez. “We have size now, and we’re going to have rebounders and good athletic guys; we should be ok. We’re going to be young and inexperienced, but inexperience can win championships as you saw with UCONN that won with two freshman starters.” Reflecting on his first year with the Miners, Perez can easily identify his season-defining moment: his one-game suspension in UTEP’s game against Marshall. His loss of some playing time after “a lack of educational performance” helped Perez mature immensely last season. Perez went through this moment with teammate sophomore center John Bohannon. He hopes that both him and Bohannon can put this moment behind them and move forward. “It affected me for some playing time, and I had to learn the hard way about how important the classroom is,” said Perez. “Sometimes I get carried away with strictly basketball, and now I have to separate; my focus should strictly be on school first and basketball second because the degree is the most important thing in life nowadays.”

“I’m here with this opportunity to play basketball so it taught me without school you can’t play basketball. My coaches, teammates, and parents kept preaching to me about school.” With his academic issues out of the way, Perez can play an important part in this year’s team, and he knows that he needs to listen to Head Coach Time Floyd and assistant coach Phil Johnson. If he can stick to the advice they give him, Perez feels he can elevate his game at a different level. “The biggest thing is to come to work everyday, and that’s what they preach is to come in here and work hard every single day and just improve a little bit every single day,” said Perez about what his coaches expect from him. “You need to work hard everyday to improve as a team and [to be] a better player.” Coming into UTEP, Perez averaged 29 points and eight assists in his senior season in high school; he was a two time all-state first team player. Perez was the key player on his team, but as an incoming freshman on a senior laden team, the game changed for him, and there was definitely a learning curve to the speed of the game. “Coming from high school straight to the college scene, it was very fast and the guys are just as strong as you and more athletic,” says Perez about the difference between the high school and college game. “It’s a different pace; it was a little shaky at times, and I would get nervous sometimes;

I just needed to get that confidence down to play at this level and prove I could play at this level.” The Miners had a successful season in 2010-11, but it ended in a disappointing fashion with two final losses and one win away from the NCAA Tournament. It was a heartbreaking way to finish the season so Perez is looking forward to improving upon that. He hopes that this year’s team can learn from last year’s end of season mistakes. “It taught us to stay focused the whole season. We had a lot of wins in our bag and thought maybe we could get an automatic bid, but winning that conference title would have done it for us,” said Perez. “There were a couple of chances where we slipped up during the season, like when we lost two straight against ECU and at home against UCF, and it taught us young guys to just stay focused throughout the whole year and listen to Coach Floyd and coach Johnson because they know what they’re doing.” With last season behind him, Perez is looking forward to the upcoming season and expecting some results from his young team. The schedule as of now seems to be more difficult in terms of non-conference games but that hasn’t deterred Perez from thinking the team won’t be competitive. “I think our expectations should be very high; we should always shoot for the highest goals. I really think that we could have a chance and make a run for the NCAA

Tournament,” Perez said. “We have a young team, but with Coach Floyd’s practices, we get better each and every day. You saw last year; we improved throughout the season so I feel like we can win a conference tournament, and maybe an outright conference, but it isn’t going to come easy at all.” That kind of mentality has been circulating throughout the entire basketball team as well as the coaching staff. They are all staying grounded, but are aiming high and working hard. It’s the kind of mentality Perez hopes all of El Paso will have come the start of season. “Look out for an athletic team that can get after it and continue to play hard for you guys,” said Perez. “We love your support and hopefully you continue to support us throughout the years and this upcoming season; see you guys at each and every game.” The conference hasn’t become much weaker or stronger, but it will definitely be a tough task for the Miners to unseat defending champs Memphis. And yet, this young team, including Perez, doesn’t assume that isn’t possible. School will start soon and with that will come more open gym time, which will give the players time to mesh together as a unit. They will undoubtedly need as much time playing time together before the season opener. Yet, with leaders like Perez and the team’s continued hard work, who knows what this team will be capable of this year.

M I N E R I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M 1 4

JOSH PUGA

With the July live period for college basketball recruiting at full throttle, Head Coach Tim Floyd and his staff are traveling all over the country looking for prospects for not only the 2012 class but for 2013 and beyond. Some fans might find it interesting why Floyd would still be looking at a boatload of players for 2012, especially when you consider that the Miners recently received a verbal commitment from small forward Anthony January, who will fill the vacant spot left by senior Gabriel McCulley after next season. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. Anyone familiar with college recruiting knows there are no guarantees when these young men are making such tough decisions. There are so many things that can happen before these prospects even step onto campus. Academic issues, homesickness, not enough playing time, BCS offers and so many other factors; it makes my head spin. UTEP fans are well aware of these issues as they witnessed what happened to promising football and basketball recruiting classes this past season. In football, the Miners lost four top prospects (Brandon Durant, Jonovan Griffin, Zoey Williams and Lovett Gibson) prior to signing day after verbally committing to UTEP. Durant and Griffin were whisked away by the Big 12, Williams signed with UNM and Gibson choose Rice amid rumors that he felt El Paso wasn’t safe. I may not agree with BCS schools letting the mid-major schools do all the heavy lifting that comes with recruiting, just to come in and swoop away prospects at the last minute, but I have to say, I do not blame Durant and Griffin for changing

their minds. When a top university comes in with a late offer, it is often difficult for these young athletes to stick with their mid-major commitments. As for the basketball program, some Miner fans still feel the sting over Rashanti Harris, Desmond Lee and Michael Haynes not being able to suit up for UTEP last season. Harris and Lee failed to qualify academically while Haynes’ departure was due to unspecified personal reasons. All three were expected to contribute last season, but the toughest loss had to be Harris as most recruiting services had him rated as a four-star prospect. I still wonder what might have been if Floyd had him last season and how Harris would

have impacted the team for the better. Just as an example and let me preface by saying that I am NOT predicting the newly committed January will change his mind, but would you be surprised if UCLA, Arizona or some other major school convinced January to walk away from Floyd and the Miners? Probably not. Disappointed? Absolutely, and unfortunately for most Miners fans, we know that feeling all too well with some of the recent recruitment issues. Even for players that have already signed on the dotted line, there is still uncertainty as to how long they will remain with the program. Think about this for a moment: with six new freshmen (including preferred walk-on Tim Jacobs) coming into the fold

next season, and all of them hoping to get some amount of playing time in their first year at UTEP, something has to give. As the season wears on, most players will be happy with their standing on the team but others might feel coming to UTEP was not the best move for them. Not to mention the adjustment all of these new players will have to make from being stars on their perspective high school teams to sharing the ball and the limelight with their new teammates. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast and as much as we hope all these new players will gel together perfectly and contribute to the success of the Miner basketball program, it isn’t very realistic to

assume that will happen. So it makes sense why coaches need to stay ahead of the game with so many unknowns at work. Unfortunately, UTEP isn’t the only school that has these problems; it is everywhere. According to an unofficial ESPN count, more than 400 Division I players

on college basketball rosters will be transfers. That means there is at least one transfer for every Division I school (345 teams total). Some schools are signing two players for the same position knowing one might not work out and transfer during or even before the season starts. Fans may not like when coaches “over” recruit players, but with all the transfers and indecision, it has almost become a necessity for most coaches and their staffs. Especially for mid-majors that must do their best to keep up with the Kentucky’s, Duke’s, and North Carolina’s of the college basketball world. But….it is what it is. All Miner fans can do is hope that the recruits the coaches find stay, year after year.

THE FINAL WORD:(Mid) Major Recruiting Challenges

“Even for players that have already signed on the dotted line, there is

still uncertainty as to how long they will remain with

the program.”