Joe on utepia | The place for commentary for UTEP athletics

UTEP quarterback questions

We're amid "all's quiet time" as far as college football is concerned, a good opportunity for the UTEP staff to be mum on a big question - the UTEP's quarterback situation. This might be left up in the air until fall drills begin in August.

Senior Trevor Vittatoe is off throwing-shoulder surgery after first being in Coach Mike Price's doghouse in early spring for issues never explained. It's Vittatoe who's on stride to set all kinds of all-time UTEP passing records, although last fall was a trip in stride. He wasn't as good as a junior as he was as a soph, or at least that's how it looked. Was it the throwing-shoulder pain? Are there personal issues?

Other than Vittatoe, UTEP has no proven quarterback to carry out the Price offense. James Thomas is no passer. The other guys are still unknowns.

Perhaps Price will toss a clue this summer? If he's talking up Vittatoe big time, that's good news for the program. If he's hedging, then there still might be cause to call this a UTEP quarterback mystery.

UTEP has a great QB coming back, stats wise at least, and all is quiet.

First C-USA, then NCAA 1st Round

Realize that it's not difficult securing a host site for the NCAA Basketball Tournament 1st Round. It never has been. The city just has to convince the NCAA it can do the work.

If El Paso shows up to the C-USA tournament, with its teams, in March, the NCAA should have no qualms sending ITS teams here.

UTEP hasn't put in NCAA bids because it really doesn't have the staff to handle one. But now that the Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sports Commission are going strong (women's national bowling and now men's and women's C-USA basketball), the committees should be well in place to handle a four-day NCAA.

I know this would be down the road. But it does look like the engine is in place for El Paso to be a host city for a lot of things.

If we had decent softball facilities, we could attract all kinds of softball national tournaments in all age groups. Las Cruces has been doing that for two decades. We are getting more soccer fields, but more could make us the same hotbed for that sport as are Phoenix and Albuquerque.

Did you know Hueco Tanks has world-class rock climbing cliffs. We surely do.

It looks like we'll be bidding on this kind of stuff.

And remember, it's not difficult to secure an NCAA host site.

Shaddup, Memphis

Does Conference USA have it in for Memphis, and that's why El Paso/UTEP was named site of next season's men's and women's basketball tournaments.

Memphis has long talked about getting out of C-USA and joining a BCS conference. And talk is getting stronger. Is that why the conference accepted El Paso's $1 million bid over Memphis' lower bid ($750,000)?

Memphis seems to forget it was a big embarrasment to the conference and its 11 other members recently. It was nailed by the NCAA for some off-the-court violations.

Yes, UTEP's been on NCAA probation too, but not for this kind of roster-loading hijinx:

(Start from Google)

Memphis found guilty by NCAA:

The Tigers used an ineligible player (Derrick Rose), who was accused of having another person take his SAT in Detroit so he would be eligible after taking the ACT test three times in Chicago.

The Tigers were cited for failure to monitor basketball team's charter airplane service, allowing Rose's brother, Reggie, to not be charged for more than $2,000 in travel expenses.

NCAA Penalties Assessed:

Must return to the NCAA the $615,000 in revenue from the 2008 NCAA Tournament

Must vacate 38 victories from the 2007-08 basketball season

Must return the 2008 Final Four trophy to the NCAA, and school and coaches' records must reflect the games forfeited

Must conduct an educational program on NCAA legislation and submit yearly compliance reports.

(End Google)

Bottom line: UTEP never cheated to get a player on the court. Would Memphis have reached  the NCAA Championship game in 2008 without Rose?

Perhaps the best to come of this is that Memphis fans and fans from the other C-USA cities will get to come here and find out what a warm, hospitable, modern place El Paso is.

El Paso gets C-USA Tournament

Conference USA officials did the right thing by awarding next season's Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments to El Paso, and C-USA member UTEP.

The early word was the decision was largely based on El Paso having offered the best financial package, a $1 million guarantee to the conference. Memphis offered $750,000.

The El Paso bid was bolstered by some of the same people who secured the ongoing USBC Women's Nationals, and event expected to bring in some $40 million to the El Paso economy. Kudos to Bill Blaziek of the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau and Brian Kennedy of the El Paso Sports Commission. They worked well with UTEP, which will offer The Don as the tournaments' venue. The hotel association, I'm sure, helped fluff the presentation pillow with some good deals on rooms.

What I'm hearing is that part of the $1 million guarantee will come from a special season-ticket package for the 2010-11 season. Expect that to be a snap since there is a lot of excitement over new coach Tim Floyd.

All this is good, as long as none of the backers get stuck with a bill due to the event having lost money, as was apparently the case this past season in Tulsa. Recall that some underwriters here lost some cash when a smaller-than-expected crowd showed up for the last Dallas Cowboys scrimmage in the Sun Bowl. Recall the first scrimmage was a sellout, then attendance waned - albeit into some 40,000. The Cowboys have not come back.

It was really good to see that Memphis was not given special treatment because ... Memphis is the big power in the conference and has the best venue. And no one can argue that Memphis, with Beal Street, is the better tourist attraction for fans from the conference members. Cincinnati Street here is ramping up, though, and so is the Union Depot area in Downtown.

I have to believe that speculation that Memphis will leave the conference (for Big East) had something to do with C-USA just taking the best financial bid and not listening to the loudest voice. Memphis is likely gone if the Big Ten expands and there's a domino effect felt.

This decision shows solidarity with UTEP, although UTEP would likely take a "domino" move if the Mountain West came calling. Most don't think UTEP is high on the Mountain West wish list, but I think that's still UTEP's best "home."

Also helping El Paso was the feelings of C-USA basketball coaches who don't think Memphis should be given another home-court tournament advantage. Until last year, Memphis was the almost-yearly site of the event, and Memphis was the best team. Memphis is again predicted to be the best team.

This was a victory for El Paso and UTEP. C-USA made the right move.

Thugs in athletics

There's no cause for alarm that UTEP athletes are heavy into thuggery.

This is in relation to two ex-Miner football linebackers charged with assault involving a handgun last week. They are Godwin Akinduro and Marcus Jones.

By and large, UTEP football or basketball players are not often in police trouble.

It also brings up the old debate: If you recruit swell, all-American-type fellas you don't win many games. The guys aren't tough enough. And you get fired as coach. Gary Nord had nice guys, and didn't win football games here. Although, as one poster has pointed out, Nord recruited Akinduro.

 If you have some trouble-makers, and you win, you can generally stick around a long time. Bobby Bowden at Florida St. is one example. Maybe that's why Florida State, a "state" school was usually right up in the rankings with Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia ...

Recalling words (paraphrased) of two former area football coaches - and probably dozens of others:

• Overheard outside the door of NMSU Football Coach Warren Woodson, an eventual College Football Hall of Famer. He was shouting at an assistant who had just reported some mischief by players: Don't you EVER come in here with the name of a starter again.

He didn't want to suspend a starter for having broken team rules.

Woodson (1958-67) is the last NMSU head coach to have an overall winning record at the school. He was the coach of the 1960 undefeated Aggies who went on to win the Sun Bowl. A long time ago.

UTEP hasn't had a string of winners since the 1960s so there are no modern-day examples of that in El Paso.

• Former UTEP Coach Charlie Bailey (1993-99) once told me the conflicting orders coaches have to give players: Be downright mean and nasty on the field, but immediately turn that attitude off when in public. That's not easy to do. Mental states are not light switches.

Here's what happens at some (most) schools: They miss the big, talented, smart, good citizens. So they have to take a chance on the not-all-of-the-aboves. And note: Even the biggest schools, who can select first, have off-the-field problems. Texas is an example.

Note, too, that UTEP Basketball Coach Don Haskins spent his whole career recruiting players he'd have to "scare straight." He was good at that. And his players generally kept straight through life. But Haskins won games, too.

College football coaches have about 100 guys to shepherd, and are often held accountable for ex-players' actions, too. Football players are not confused with choir boys, unless they go 0-12.

If they win, they're Bobby Bowden. If they lose, they're Gary Nord.

Boise fans a tad touchy

Let's do another Boise State-UTEP lesson:

Yes, Boise has been top-notch at football for a few years in a row now. But, no, the Broncos would not have ever competed for a Pac-10 or a Big 12 championship. Getting up for two big-name opponents a year, and having some fortune, is not like having a real opponent each week. Boise might not have won the Mountain West.

That said, Boise is darn good on its blue turf (and, yes, I know its only myth that ducks mistake it for water and break their necks trying to land.)

UTEP used to be really good in basketball every year, too. It dominated the old WAC in the 1980s. Then something happened to UTEP that could well happen to Boise. There are powers out there (rumor has it) that sic the NCAA on schools having a little bit too much success for their britches

UTEP spent much of the 1990s fighting off the NCAA. In 1992 the Miners had gone to the NCAA Sweet 16, but NCAA snooping had already started.

The Miner players were taking huge, huge gifts from El Paso richaroos? The Miners were ... they were being investigated for everything. That was in spite of the fact El Paso had few richaroos back then.

They got caught:

 •Giving a kid a ride home from his summer job . Note: Coach Don Haskins would later say "I'll always give a player a ride if he needs it; the NCAA isn't going to stop me from doing that for a kid." In this case, it was Assistant Coach Rus Bradburd giving Ralph Davis a ride because Davis was stuck outside in the rain. It was a violation, all right. And somebody actually turned him in for that. Now it's no longer against the rules.

• Haskins was recruiting a player in California (it was rare Haskins even left town to recruit). On National Signing Day morning he stopped off at the recruit's grandmother's house. He'd promised he come by and have a piece of her pumpkin pie. He did. But he showed up an hour too early. He thought it was 9 a.m., the bell to start recruiting. He forgot he was now on Pacific Time and it was only 8 a.m. It was a violation. And somebody actually turned him in for that.

• Some Downtown restaurant owner, who nobody knew, supposed gave a player an airline ticket. That's still a head-scratcher.

Recall that a disgrunted Miner player went back home to New York and told an investigative reporter that UTEP had a powerful booster network set up whereby players got free use of cars and got money - and places to eat for free ... and the hyped up charges went on, but boiled down to Haskins eating pumpkin pie too early and an assistant helping a player get out of the rain.

UTEP would lose scholarships, which really hurts. You have to think about that, but it takes the better part of a decade to recover.

Here's where Boise comes in.

• All mid-majors are fragile in the first place. As the saying goes, the good ones can recruit a top first string, but second-string is weaker. And, unlike the real big schools, there's nobody good to fill in if somebody gets hurt.

• Somebody could frame Boise State. The NCAA can always find something. UTEP, New Mexico State, New Mexico in Lobogate ... UNLV, Fresno State ... Wichita State. OK, Tulane really did shave points, and so did NYU way back.

• And then there's the OOPS! The quarterback goes down (note Sam Bradford at Oklahoma last season). Oklahoma played in the Brut Sun Bowl, great for El Paso, but not for BCS-power Oklahoma.

So it's not wise to be smug about how long your favorite team is going to be a national power, unless its in the old-school national power club. As blogger Jay noted, Kansas State got a taste of the big time until ... OOPS.

UTEP or Boise State?

I'm not buying into speculation that the Mountain West Conference wants the WAC's Boise State tha.aa.t much over UTEP - if it even wants either.

Yes, Boise State football has been BCS caliber of late. Can that last? Boise, Idaho, is growing rapidly; its metropolitan area is about 400,000. It has an airport. But sustaining a winning football program is much more difficult than maintaining power in basketball, a la Gonzaga. Fresno State couldn't do it. Some schools are one-year flashes, such as Hawaii a few years ago.

This all comes about because there are new ripples that the Big Ten really is out courting schools this month. There are denials of course. And posters here have been having fun with all kinds of speculation on the domino effect that would have on other conferences - and UTEP's Conference USA.

So what about UTEP?

UTEP has great facilities, including owning Sun Bowl Stadium. It's also in a city that is projected to be 1 million people in 10 years. El Paso has a nice airport, too.

OK, so far Boise State and UTEP are about an even match.

A bowl game is played in Boise, too. But its basketball program has no name. We have the Sun Bowl and the basketball program had a name and new coach Tim Floyd is a national name in himself.

Then again, El Paso does not have corporate money.  Boise probably has more corporate dollars, and more dollars in the average citizens' pocket. Note, though, we're not necessarily as poor as many believe. Take into account our "second economy," which is the "cash" economy and that explains why high-price concert tickets are scarffed up quickly. There's money here to sell out UTEP games, but fans here are still in love with only winners (not like Cubs-type fans), and still think they should get something for free when they go to a game (Diablos baseball attendance strategy). That has to change for the better.

Still, you have to rate UTEP and Boise State about equal. Neither is an academic powerhouse, either. But UTEP is making strides at being a Tier One research institution; a lot of money may be coming to town for the health-care and health-research industries.

Geographical location? "Airline hub" doesn't fit either city, nor does "easy to get to."

Neither school has ever been material for a real big conference; and UTEP was left behind in the WAC when the Mountain West was formed by the bigger WAC members. Both UTEP and Boise State have been floating around to whatever mid-major conference - that still played I-A football - would have them. Now the WAC is basically football-playing schools from the old Pacific Coast Athletic Association. UTEP left the WAC to be a fill-in when C-USA lost basketball schools to the Big East.

I've got a solution. The Mountain West could take both if it expands from its nine members, or it loses one or some schools to possible Pac-10 expansion.

It sure would have been nicer if UTEP had any name at all in football, and basketball prowess didn't take a years-long hit during the NCAA-penalty years in Haskins' twilight.

If Boise has one advantage its that TODAY (but for how long) it's a financial asset to its conference because its football makes everybody TV and bowl money. But that's just TODAY.

UTEP has not sustained itself on the field and in the arena, but it would look to have more potential for that than does Boise, Idaho. At least by a tad.

Bottom line: If the Mountain West were to take one of the two, UTEP wins by a nose in a photo finish.

Quick to forget

Amid the joy of having Tim Floyd come back to UTEP as head basketball coach, and the trust fans have already put in him:

The two players who were the main reason for UTEP's 26-7 record, and NCAA appearance, will not return. They represented the best big-man combo here in many years: 6-foot-8 senior-to-be Derrick Caracter and 6-foot-10 junior-to-be Arnett Moultrie. They intimidated the other Conference USA teams, even though Moultrie played soft at times.

Without the two, guard Randy Culpepper would not have led the Miners to the NCAA. He''d have shot them down to third place in Conference USA. Forward Jeremy Williams is a quick baseline slasher, but is a role player. Point guard Julyan Stone is a passer, not a scorer. UTEP would have been weak inside without Caracter and Moultrie.

Generally, posters on Utepia have agreed:

Caracter is making a bad decision to enter the NBA Draft. He's not that good; he has defensive flaws and his half-hooks get blocked by other big guys. He hasn't proved he's mature enough off the court.

Moultrie doesn't have the UTEP fit now that tactician Floyd is coach. He'll transfer. He should have given Floyd a shot at making him an NBA player in two years.

The 26-7 Miners had, technically, everyone returning before Coach Tony Barbee left for Auburn in March (Caracter was believed gone; he didn't come home with the team after the NCAA Tournament).

Now no Moultrie, who some say (me, too) didn't have a good sophomore year, is to transfer.

Bottom line: Yes, Floyd recruited some new guys. But remember these were guys passed over during the early signing period. There usually isn't a whole lot of college-material talent left over when you have to start recruiting in March.

Bye, Moultrie

This one is simple. But first the official story:

Arnett Moultrie and new UTEP Basketball Coach Tim Floyd " ... arrived at a mutual understanding ... " etc., etc.

Here's what probably happened, and why "it would be best for him to continue his career elsewhere."

I'll bet this was the conversation:

Floyd: No, Arnett, you won't be taking jump shots from the top of the key whenever you like."

Moultrie: But I'm  a big NBA prospect; everybody says I am. And I'll be shooting 3's when I get to the League, so I need to practice here."

Floyd: You're a 6-foot-10 athlete with speed and agility. You are not a basketball player, at least not yet.

Moultrie: If I stay, will I get to be the star? I do have good stats, you know (9.3 points, 7.5 rebounds).

Floyd: Star? You have to earn a spot in the starting lineup first. And about stats: You can't give up 20 points a game and let your man get 12 rebounds if you're only averaging 9.3 and 7.5.

Moultrie: Do you mean I have to hustle on defense?

Floyd: All the time. Plus, you have to do a good job while doing it.

(I believe this is the time the conversation stopped. The two shook hands. Moultrie left the room, pulled out his cell and called his old coach, Tony Barbee, at Auburn. We'll see if Moultrie's "game" is on the level with other SEC teams before he trots off to the NBA - or Europe.)

(I believe this is the time when Floyd thought to himself, "I  wish him well. But we don't play the  game like last year's Miners played. Fans will see a little of Don Haskins' style again.)

Final thought: Two years ago, Moultrie was a 6-foot-10 athlete with speed and agility - who had a few breakout-type games. Fans marveled at his potential. Last season, as a sophomore, Moultrie did not improve; no skills were honed. Fans marveled at his potential.