UTEP Miners football

The UTEP Miners football program represents University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in the sport of American football. The Miners compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the West Division of Conference USA (CUSA). They are coached by Dana Dimel. UTEP has produced a Border Conference championship team in 1956 and a Western Athletic Conference championship team in 2000, along with 14 postseason bowl appearances. The Miners play their home games at the Sun Bowl which has a seating capacity of 51,500. History Early history (1914–1964) The State College of Mines and Metallurgy fielded its first football team in 1914, under the direction of head coach Tommy Dwyer, who led the team until 1917. Head coach Harry Van Surdam took over the reins of the Miners in 1920, the same year the school changed its name to the College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas. Former Texas head coach E. J. Stewart led the Miners football program from 1927 to 1928, compiling a 5–6–3 record during those two seasons. Mack Saxon served as the head football coach of the Miners from 1929 to 1941, compiling a record of 66–43–9, making him the winningest head coach in program history. He led the Miners to three 7–1 seasons. Saxon led the Miners, an NCAA Division I-A independent for its entire 21-year history to that point, into the Border Conference in 1935. Saxon's 1936 team lost 34–6 to Hardin–Simmons in the 1937 Sun Bowl, the only bowl game to which his teams were invited. Jack Curtice had a successful run as the Miners head coach from 1946 to 1949, compiling a record of 24–13–3, which included back to back 8-2-1 campaigns during his final two years. It was in 1949 that the College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas changed its name to Texas Western College. Curtice left the Miners to accept the position of head coach for Utah after the 1949 season. In June 1950, Mike Brumbelow was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at Texas Western. He had been operating sporting goods stores at Midland and Odessa, Texas (in partnership with Tex Carleton) at the time of his hiring at UTEP. Brumbelow served as head football coach at UTEP from 1950 to 1956. He had a successful tenure as coach, guiding his teams to a 46–24–3 record. The team won eight or more games three times, in 1953, 1954 and 1956.