Is Camp Socorro so great?

Each year as the UTEP football team buses leave for Camp Socorro, it's made out to be a merry ride to a week or so of "nothing but football" and "team bonding."

I've not heard many players come back and say how much they liked it.

Coaches, back to the first Camp Socorro coach, Charlie Bailey, have shown the numbers that it doesn't cost more to spend time on the campus of New Mexico Tech than it does to spend it in El Paso. The football program, either way, has to house and feed the players. No, dorms aren't free.

Perhaps it costs UTEP some extra money in renting facilities? But it is a nice serene place - a lot of trees, a green golf course and much more cooling rain than around here in early August El Paso.

It used to be the team would have grueling practices away from the attention of fans and the like. That's why players hated it. And if newspaper reporters got a tad out of line with reports back home they were liable to be taped to a tree and left there a while. It was boot camp. It probably still is, although Coach Mike Price seems to have added some after-practice fun time.

All that said, I bet if you take a poll of players next week, the vast majority will have wished they'd stayed in El Paso and worked out at the Sun Bowl or Glory Field - and then had the early evening hours to roam free. Or later, if they didn't get caught.

Yes, the cost is about the same, here or there.  The coaches get the undivided attention of about 100 guys - 24/7 if they really want to play drill sergeant. (Freshmen can't quit and go home from up there).

But the fact remains, I've never heard anybody say they can't wait to get back to Camp Socorro next year - except coaching staffs.

Comments

[rs]

No soldier in training likes boot camp either. You should have discussed the camp's effectiveness; not whether it costs more or whether "many players" have come back and have not said they liked it (whatever that means).

[Prospero]

Thats true. And from what i've heard keeping players in Camp Socorro is actually CHEAPER than keeping players in El PASO. But do camps like Camp Socorro actually help teams win football games? Im sure most of the big schools dont even do it.

[CLEOFITZWITZ]

Sometimes Joe sounds like Andy Rooney.

"Is Camp Socorro really any good? Why do they do it? It must be awfully expensive. Do the players even like it? Well what about the coaches? Do they like it? Why do they do it?"

I don't know for sure how many programs leave the campus for a camp like atmosphere like UTEP, but I have heard it is not uncommon. Maybe some posters know of some other schools that do the same thing. Maybe we can poll them and see if they enjoy it.

[Dayton Flyer]

I didn't know it was a democracy at UTEP football. Maybe they should form a committee; gain consensus; take a vote. Do the same during the game. Certainly enough guys in the huddle for a quorum. The center proposes a play, there's a second...then a general referendum before final approval by the proletariat

OR

Maybe the coach should decide.

[Toasted Whitebred]

The Miners have been attending camp socorro for about the last 10 or 12 years. In that time, the Miners have been to more bowl games (3) than in their previous 30 years without camp socorro.

Maybe there is something to it.

[Andy Springer]

Camp Socorro is unique. It keeps the players focused on football. It gives them an opportunity to bond as a team. Two-a-days are hell no matter where you are. The greatest thing about 2 a days is when they are over. Continuity, close quarters, easy access, all of these things are pluses for Camp Socorro. Who cares what other teams leave campus for football camp. UTEP does and that makes it unique.

[Rob]

The coach is the Coach. Let him coach! The players can be divas IF they get to the NFL. I've spent a few days in Socorro before. There is absolutely nothing going on there. Great place for a coach to avoid distractions. Of all the problems with UTEP's football program, this is the one you wasted time writing about.