Joe on utepia | The place for commentary for UTEP athletics

But he wasn't plastered?

So NMSU's new football coach, DeWayne Walker, showed nine signs of being drunk during three sobriety tests at a Las Cruces DWI checkpoint over the weekend.

But he wasn't near plastered. And he didn't even need one of El Paso's shrewd barristers to get him off, as did lawyers for former basketball coaches Don Haskins and Billy Gillispie.

When they hauled him in and took his blood count, it looked like he'd been sipping tea all night. His blood alcohol test was 0.01.

Perk coming with the job?

Note: I still don't think His Coachency, Haskins, was DWIing that night on Mesa Street. He'd walked funny for years — bad feet and all. But his case went maneuvering on for some years by the changing of lawyers and all the neat tricks.

I recall calling His Coachency on a day he never showed in court, as scheduled. He answered his cell: "Aw heck (I'm changing it to aw heck), I didn't even know I was supposed to be there. Aw heck, I'm in my truck driving back from Deming."

I think El Paso coaches need to find out what makes the Las Cruces drunkometer gauge stick, like rust, at 0.01.

Bottome line: neither Walker, nor the drunkometer, was oiled in this particular case.

GMAC Bowl dumps Conference USA

Here's how silly bowl game affiliations with conferences have become. It has to do with there now being 34 bowl games — way too many!

The GMAC Bowlin Mobile, Ala., has dumped UTEP's conference, Conference USA, in favor of getting the No. 9 pick from the Atlantic Coast Conference. How's that for one's ego? They'd rather have a No. 9.

This should not hurt C-USA because there are still five other bowls where the teams can go.

By rules, teams need at least a .500 record to qualify for a post-season bowl. There are, give or take, 115 Division I-A teams in the NCAA. Will NINE ACC teams be qualified? If not, then the GMAC gets to pick from other conferences. You know, the second string from the third-place finisher in, say, the Pac-10.

Conference USA still has the Liberty Bowl in Memphis for its champ (vs. SEC). The new Hawaii bowl gets second pick (vs. the WAC). Then there are secured spots in the St. Petersburg Bowl, New Orleans Bowl and Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth)

Oh, and if Army isn't bowl eligible, and C-USA has SIX bowl-elibible teams, the new Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington, D.C. can choose between leftovers — like C-USA No. 6 vs. (Big Ten No. 5 freshmen red-shirts).

We missed Double-A chance

Regarding the subject of UTEP reinstituting a baseball program, and this being a baseball town, as some posters have been saying:

It passed our eyes and ears that in 2007 Wichita gave up its Double-A franchise, which went to Springdale, Ark. We put in no bids, at least any that became public.

Recall there were few teeth gnashing here when Diablos owner Bobby Brett and pals sold the El Paso Double-A franchise papers to a Springfield, Mo. magnate.

So we went from Double-A to the independents, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The team name remains Diablos, by the independent leagues are a long way from Double-A baseball.I guess we assumed we'd get the next Double-A franchise that opened.

Well, one did! Wichita gave up its rights to a new owner, in a new stadium, and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals are in their second season in the Texas League.

Here are the divisions:

Springfield, Tulsa, Northwest Arkansas and Arkansas.

And Midland, Corpus Christi, Frisco and San Antonio.

We should be in the latter division.

Note, too, that to get one of the 30 Double-A or Triple-A franchises in existence (one each per Major League team), you have to be in a geographical location to fit into one. We fit into the Texas League. We also fit into the Pacific Coast League (Albuquerque, Tucson, and others). But Triple-A franchises sell for a lot more money than do Double-A's.

UTEP reviving baseball? Difficult

Poster often ask why UTEP has no baseball program. There is a way it could, but there are several reasons why it hasn't.

Some chronology: UTEP dropped baseball in 1985 and picked up men's tennis. It dropped men's tennis in 1999. These were money decisions, and these were times UTEP was trying hard to meet Title IX mandates — equal opportunities for women as for men. Another decision along those lines was making the co-ed rifle team all women.

There was a plan a few years ago whereby a private group hoped to build the Sun City Baseball Complex next to Tom Lea Park in the Rim Road area. At the time UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull said it would be possible that a good field, which would have been near the UTEP campus, would bring out enough fans so baseball (11 or so scholarships) could pay for itself. At the time, NMSU almost $400,000 a year for baseball.

The complex never came to pass. In fact, that land is now going to be a baseball/softball facility for El Paso High. It's PSB land and the El Paso Independent School District will construct the fields. It could still be possible for UTEP to cut a deal. But!

If UTEP adds the 11 scholarships, it has to add some women's scholarships, too. And even if baseball did break even financially, the women's team likely would not. Only football and men's basketball earn revenue to speak of at UTEP.

At the time then-AD Bill Cords dropped baseball, he noted not only the cost, but that few fans showed up for games, then at old Dudley Field.

It was further noted that the program was not on par with nearby Division I schools, such as the two Arizonas and New Mexico.

Also, baseball programs oftentimes have one of the school's lowest academic rating. Now the NCAA mandates certain GPAs, and schools that don't pass can lose scholarships.

It's true UTEP's conference, C-USA, plays good baseball and would love UTEP to have a team. It just doesn't look like its going to pan out. There are too many ifs and too many hurdles.

Joe on Utepia talks football

It's spring football time, and the El Paso Times sports podcast crew is ready.

Talking about UTEP football following last weekend's spring game is Joe Muench, Bret Bloomquist, Pablo Villa and John Erfort.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (Or, to download, right click and save-target-as).

Football in flux?

This fall could well result in new looks for college football in El Paso. Then then there's the Brut Sun Bowl. This is the final year of a contract with a network affiliate, CBS TV.

I see no real problem for the Sunnies. ESPN would certainly pick up the game. And if corporate sponsor Helen of Troy does not continue its financial backing, look for Western Refinery to jump in. And the Sunnies have a nice financial cushion (to pay its teams) with its share of the car-rental tax in El Paso.

But UTEP?

Mike Price, by virtue of two straight 8-win seasons and two straight bowl appearances, is the best coach UTEP has had since Bobby Dobbs some 40 years ago. But if the Miners don't have a winner this fall, it would mark four straight non-winners.

It won't help UTEP having to play both Texas and Kansas this year. That means the Miners must win seven of their other 10 games to finish above .500.

Price has had a long and great career. He is popular. But he would be able to retire in comfort, on his own terms, in 2009. Things may get pretty pressured-packed for him if he goes into 2010 with a possibility of coaching five straight non-winning seasons.

Stull? What more can be expected of this man, who came back to UTEP and led its renaissance of new construction. UTEP is now a real legit Division I-A school when it comes to facilities.

So, if this fall doesn't pan out in football, I'm saying both men will be mulling over calling it a career.

Who can replace the football coach and the AD? That will be a tough task for school prez Diana Natalicio.

Football playoff system

Congress was talking college football playoffs Friday, although few think anything will change in the near future as far as the BCS and the bowls are concerned.

Here's my plan for a playoff:

It's an 8-team field composed of league champions: ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big 10, Pac-10 and SEC ...

... along with 2 champions of the four other I-A conferences, C-USA, WAC, Mountain West and Mid-American. Pick the two on a power-point basis, such as BCS power ratings. Right now none of these four conferences have automatic entry. At least this gives them a shot.

Also figure out how to get an independent with a strong record (Notre Dame?) into the mix.

The four BCS sites take turns having the championship game: LA Rose, Miami Orange, New Orleans Sugar and Tempe, Ariz. Fiesta.

Highest-bid cities get the two semifinal games.

The other 3 BCS sites get a quarterfinal game, as does a highest-bidding city.

The non-winners of conferences would play in the usual bowl games ... Cotton, Holiday, Gator, Outback, Alamo, Vitalis Sun ...

I know of at least one snag in this plan. In a playoff, quarterfinal and semifinal games might not draw each team's fans. Fans will wait to take their big trip to the championship game. Bowl host cities have relied on having fans stay for days. And the teams usually stay for the better part of a whole week. It's an economic boost for host cities.

This might hurt, say, the Orange Bowl. But then again Miami gets the National Championship Game once every four years in this plan. That's a good deal for Miami ... and Tempe and LA and New Orleans.

Bowl games like El Paso's Vitalis Sun would still make out well. They wouldn't be part of the playoffs, but they'd be able to continue business as usual.

OK, posters, start picking this plan apart.