UTEP Basketball

UTEP head basketball coach Rodney Terry was hospitalized Wednesday in Miami after an allergic reaction. 

The school announced Terry remains in critical condition, but he is expected to make a full recovery after going into anaphylactic shock on Jan. 1. 

"UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry was admitted to a Miami area hospital on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 1 due to anaphylactic shock," per UTEP's statement (h/t Bret Bloomquist of the El Paso Times). "Medical officials say he is in critical but stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timetable for his return to the UTEP bench."

Terry traveled with the team to Miami for Thursday's game when his allergic reaction occurred. Assistant coach Kenton Paulino took Terry's place on the bench for the Miners in their 69-67 loss to Florida International. 

"He really wanted to be here," Paulino said in a post-game radio interview (h/t Bloomquist). "He's doing much, much better. They want to hold him a certain period of time, but he's ready to get back."

UTEP will travel to Boca Raton, Florida, for Saturday's game against Florida Atlantic. The team will return to El Paso after that for three straight home contests against Southern Mississippi (Jan. 9), Louisiana Tech (Jan. 11) and UTSA (Jan. 15). 

Terry, 51, is in his second season as head coach at UTEP. The Miners' nine wins in 2019-20 have already surpassed their total from all of last season (8-21). 

UTEP men's basketball assistant coach Lamont Smith, who led the University of San Diego's men's hoops program from 2015 to 2018, has resigned from his post after USD said he was the coach implicated in the wide-ranging college admissions bribery scandal.

Alex Nicolas of Talk Town Sports El Paso provided an official statement from UTEP:

#UTEP assistant coach Lamont Smith has resigned @minermaniac @mid_madness pic.twitter.com/wDA0IF9YXU

— Alex Nicolas (@NicolasAlex915) March 21, 2019

Allison Horn of ABC 10 News of San Diego provided more information:

"The initial indictment, released earlier in March, alleged real estate developer Robert Flaxman paid about $100,000 to get his son in the 'side door' with the help of a USD coach. Federal documents claim an FBI witness and Smith worked to accept Flaxman's son, an Industrial Systems Engineer Major, as an athletic recruit, although he did not play basketball."

Per the Associated Press (h/t Washington Post), USD "said it was able to publicly identify Smith on Wednesday only after the U.S. Department of Justice modified a confidentiality order."

According to Rebecca Halleck of the New York Times, "federal authorities charged 50 people on [Tuesday, March 12] with taking part in a nationwide scheme to game the admissions process at highly competitive schools." The list includes actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

Smith resigned from USD after being arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury and false imprisonment, per Don Norcross and Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Charges were not filed, but Smith stepped down on March 7.

UTEP women's basketball player Jenzel Nash was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for her alleged role in a bank fraud scheme.

According to Daniel Borunda of the El Paso Times, Nash was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud along with six other people for allegedly attempting to defraud 21 banks and credit unions.

Nash is currently suspended indefinitely by UTEP.

When asked to comment on Nash's status, UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said the following: "I'm not able to comment on it, but one thing I will say, I care about Jenzel. I'll say my prayers for her. I can't comment any more about the situation."

Per Borunda, the 23-year-old is alleged to have lied about her monthly salary to obtain separate loans in 2014 and 2015. Her boyfriend—former New Mexico State University football player Terrance Yelder—was also indicted.

Each charge against her could carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.   

As we prepare for tonight's NCAA Championship Game featuring Butler University and the University of Connecticut, my thoughts—as they do every year—are drawn back to another title contest, 45 years earlier, when the Texas Western College Miners faced the University of Kentucky.

On March 19, 1966, the Texas Western Miners defeated the Kentucky Wildcats, 72-65. It was an amazing game. It was a piece of basketball, if not cultural, history. Four and a half decades later, it still stands in my memory as one of the most important sporting events ever to be played.

I'm far too young to remember the 1966 NCAA tournament. In fact, until 2006, I had no interest in basketball, college or otherwise. I'm almost ashamed to admit that it took me seeing the film Glory Road for me to become aware of the Texas Western story.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried at the end of the film, because that story hit home.

In 1966, the Texas Western Miners were given almost no chance to even have a decent season. They ended up nearly going undefeated, only losing their final regular-season game at Seattle by two points.

They then made history by having an all-African American starting five in the national final against a heavily-favored Kentucky team. As if that wasn't enough, they beat Kentucky and became the 1966 national champions.

It's a victory that's been credited with setting in motion the desegregation of college basketball. I've heard it referred to as the "Brown v. Board of Education game," comparing it to that landmark legal decision.

I'm in awe of the game's cultural and social ramifications, certainly. But almost as admirable in my book are the smaller things. Several members of that 1966 team went on to become teachers, coaches, or otherwise involved with young people, including Harry Flournoy, Nevil Shed, and Willie Cager. They made the choice to continue helping the lives of others.

As for head coach Don Haskins, he continued to coach at Texas Western (now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP) until 1999—almost 40 years after he had become head of the Miners in 1961. (Sadly, Haskins passed away in September 2008, almost six years after the December 2002 death of leading scorer Bobby Joe Hill.)

These were people who, while they didn't set out to make history (Haskins wrote in his autobiography that he "certainly did not expect to be some racial pioneer or change the world"), changed lives, and didn't stop with that one night. They continued to help others long afterward.

In this day and age, when it seems I'm always hearing some story about improper benefits or recruiting violations, I reflect on that. My stomach turns when I realize that Jim Calhoun can be suspended by the NCAA in February and on the verge of being celebrated as a national champion in March.

Forty-five years is a long time, and call me a shameless optimist, but I admire the integrity of that Texas Western team, and their embracing of what the game—what any sport—can do even after the game has been played.

I can't personally speak to every single effect of that 1966 championship season. I'm the wrong ethnicity, the wrong gender, and a few decades too young. All I know for sure is that game definitely touched my life.

I guess you could call me an expert on the 1966 Texas Western Miners. After I saw Glory Road for the first of what is now some three dozen times, I sought out the actual film from that 1966 championship game and watched the real game.

I've read every book that has been written on the subject. There's a replica Bobby Joe Hill jersey hanging in my closet, and an autographed Don Haskins basketball that sits in a case on my desk. I even wrote my graduate school entrance essay on the 1966 championship game. There are a lot of things I can trace back to the Texas Western Miners.

Most important among them is that as someone who is different, I was emboldened to hold my head high, and know that I could still be a part of something that mattered.

I've loved sports for my entire life. Yet as both a woman and as someone who is handicapped, I have had many times in my life where I've also been told that I don't belong or won't succeed.

Hearing that sentiment over and over again—the majority of it from teachers and coaches—eventually made me give up. While I never faced the level of adversity that the Miners did, it was an incredible inspiration to know that there were people who were also ostracized for being different, who had faced worse and come out not just survivors, but champions.

In Don Haskins, I found someone who saw the world the way I do—who just saw players. He didn't care about race, he just wanted to win the game.

His example reminded me that there are people out there who are tolerant, and that there's still a place in the world for hard work and integrity. He conducted himself the way I wanted to carry myself.

Motivated by Coach and his team, I decided to resume my own athletic career, and I've never been happier. It goes without saying that I've also become a college basketball fan.

To me, the 1966 NCAA championship game is still relevant, and will always be relevant. Not only for its cultural and social significance at the time, but for the values it furthered, and for its countless lasting effects.

At the very least, I know I never would have played sports again if not for that game.

I'll be watching tonight's national championship, of course. But when I do, I'll do it wearing my Texas Western College pin, and with a toast to the late coach Haskins.

Without him and his team 45 years ago, who knows where we might be tonight?

Oh, sure, hire a fraudulent, no-good sleaze failing to realize the circumstances of becoming the next suspect of a despicable crime. Whether UTEP is desperate or indulgent, athletic director Bob Stull wasn’t thinking, and now is willing to lavish Tim Floyd with a coaching job.

In what seemed to be a tragicomedy at USC, it turns out revelations weren’t disastrous enough to influence an athletic director with good sense to avoid hiring an insidious goon.

What is so impressive about Floyd? Why in the hell is Stull giving a second chance to a coach, who is known as the dirtiest cheater in college basketball? Something reeks with the new hiring in the desert, something smells awful. And it’s not the smell of fresh air or rain, but a disgusting smell that no one should stomach.  

There’s nothing brilliant in signing a fraud or bringing someone aboard with an awful reputation and an insensitive psyche, heedless of a school’s image, and leaving one of the most regal programs abruptly in a repulsive scandal.

Keep in mind that Floyd embarrassed and fled USC, when he was accused of bribing and handing $1,000 to O.J. Mayo’s adviser Rodney Guillory. That year, Mayo was the best player at Southern California, even though accusations surfaced that he wasn’t recruited legitimately, but instead paid off at a Beverly Hills eatery. It’s hard to prove whether he received cash, but it’s not difficult suggesting that Floyd was a bad boy caught committing a dreadful act.

Most coaches resolve the issues, instead of hightailing to the nearest taxi and airport for a one-way ticket as a way to escape wrongdoing. Hardly, coaches run away from problems without fixing a troubling issue.

Perhaps, there’s merely one coach out there content with leaving behind a mess and an ailing program in shambles. It’s Mr. Floyd, you know, the bad boy with no morals or a modest demeanor. Except solving it, Floyd resigned without providing specifics on what really took place behind the scenes.

And his name isn’t clear of guilt, sadly tainted with violations of NCAA rules. It’s amazing that our country blasts John Calipari as a cheater, and condones that Floyd’s scandals are minor.

If people bash Calipari, then in fairness, we should blast Floyd as well. He allegedly made a cash transactions, a misdeed worse than Calipari’s unawareness of his former student-athletes receiving cash.

I’m not sure why any program wants to put themselves in a predicament this severe. No coach with baggage is worth the headaches, no coach with flaws is worth the time. There were other coaches available, that UTEP trustees may have been more privileged to interview and evaluate.

By rushing to find a new coach and establish a foundation within an up-and-coming program among all coaches, Stull signed a problematic rogue in Floyd.

So now winning doesn’t matter, neither does respectability as a legitimate force. All UTEP needed was a few days to deliberate and hire a new coach, anyone other than Floyd. Because of his atrocious past, no one should be surprised if he replicates similar results at UTEP.

Of course, any coach denies accusations as a way to salvage his reputation. It almost seems startling that a school took a risk, even if he’s innocent and a mistaken identity.

This is neither the right coach, nor the perfect job for Floyd.

Like it or not, if he has a pattern in committing violations, a sickness will never vanish as long as he benefits from wrongly manipulating top high school prospects to verbally commit and sign. And then later, heavy burdens stains a thought-to-be legit program as Floyd’s initial intentions will lead to a sudden departure, once again leaving another school in disarray.

As corrupted as the college basketball system is, a sham is brewing at UTEP for hiring a bad coach. That’s bad for the game. Given that he has been accused for egregious cheating is the epitome of further complications unhinging.

It’s almost laughable that a sham is given a job amid a recession, and anointed for deceit or faulty judgment. Months later, maybe there’ll be another scandal, only this time at UTEP. That’s something to take into consideration, right?

Right!

This is absurd.

After all, he’s not the first one with infractions against him and hired as a coach again. The last program to make such a foolish mistake was Indiana when it hired Kelvin Sampson, an infamous idiot who's still being investigated for recruiting and luring in athletes over the phone. That was a resemblance of what transpired at Oklahoma, where he also cheated by using the hotline.                    

Because of Floyd’s brilliant recruiting it compelled the NCAA to introduce legislation known as the “eight-and-five” rule, in which coaches had a name for calling it “The Tim Floyd Rule.” It was organized to limit schools to a maximum of five scholarship freshmen in one year and eight over two years. But truly it’s hard to believe if this was done legitimate.

To this day, we’re always emphasizing the significance of integrity and sportsmanlike conduct, but as it turns out, Floyd doesn’t follow a classy ritual. For instance at Iowa State, he recruited over the 13-scholarship limit and at USC the latest incident came about, while he was praised for rebuilding a motionless program.  

Hearing all of this, what was Stull thinking?

He just hired a rogue.

As a result, all Miners fans should worry about this coaching hiring.           

The University of Texas at El Paso has announced that they will name current New Orleans Hornets assistant coach Tim Floyd as head coach of their basketball program.

Floyd's coaching career began at UTEP back in 1977 as an assistant coach to Hall of Famer Don Haskins, who lead UTEP to three straight NCAA Tournaments (1984-86).

His head coaching resume is impressive with collegiate winning records everywhere he has coached.

Floyd's first head coaching stint began at Idaho where he recorded a 16-14 record his first season. He improved the next year going 19-11 and finished second in the conference.

He left Idaho to coach at New Orleans where he recorded winning seasons in all six years he was there and took the Privateers to the NCAA Tournament in his third and fifth years. He recorded a 26-4 season record during his fifth year.

Floyd left to then coach at Iowa State where he brought the team to two consecutive NCAA second round appearances and then lead the team to the Sweet 16 in the 1996-97 season.

In 1999, Floyd began his professional career coaching the Chicago Bulls. He fared poorly in the NBA missing the playoffs every year with the Bulls. Floyd was then signed as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Hornets.

Floyd's NBA record is 90-231.

In 2005, Floyd returned to the college game and joined the Trojans of USC to coach the men's basketball team. In his second season he led the Trojans to a 25-12 record and a Sweet 16 appearance, but left amid scandalous allegations about the program.

The No. 12 seed...with the dreaded No. 5 vs. 12 matchup...the matchup every team wants to avoid. We have seen upset after upset throughout the years of the tournament.

And guess what?

We will always see them, and nothing will be different this year.

I really like the No. 5 vs. 12 matchups the Selection Committee gave this year. (It may be the only thing I like, though). They put together some good teams that will really be great games.

In two of the matchups, I think the higher seeds will be fine, but you never know; anyway, I think those safe teams are going to be Michigan State, playing New Mexico State, and Texas A&M, who is playing Utah State.

I think those two power conference teams will have an easy job with those two teams. The Spartans and Aggies just have a premium of everything compared to the two Western Athletic Conference teams.

So, Texas A&M and Michigan State fans, don't be nervous; you should be fine!

Temple and Cornell is a very intriguing game, and it should be great, but I don't think it has the best possibility of being an upset. But, it could indeed hold one of the best first-round games we see in the first two days of the tournament.

Now to my most likely upset: Butler vs. Texas El-Paso in the West Regional.

I think that UTEP really got robbed on their seeding. They could have been at a No. 10 or an 11, but instead the committee put them at a 12. However, it does build a good match here.

I believe Butler was bumped up a seed too much. I liked them to be a six because I just don't see them being five seed material, but we'll see how it goes.

It is known that Butler's post presence is very far from great. After all, they really only have one big guy that can bump around inside, that being junior Matt Howard.

Derrick Caracter and company should be able to dominate inside against the weak nucleus of Butler. Brad Stevens is going to have some trouble getting his team ready for this team.

Tony Barbee's team also has nice speed to complement the size advantage of their big men. Butler will have to be ready to slow everything down and prevent the game from being a track meet.

The Butler Bulldogs just don't match up too well here. Not only do the Miners have an edge physically, but they also have somewhat of a home-court advantage. Butler has to travel all the way out west from the East coast, while UTEP only has to take a short flight from Texas.

The fans of UTEP could really affect the play of Butler. I do have to give the Bulldogs credit though; they rarely let tough environments hurt them.

Butler is very hot coming in, as they cruised through the Horizon League Conference and on to a huge championship win. That should help them some as they know what has worked as of late, and they will definitely need it.

It just doesn't seem like things are swinging the right direction for Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs. UTEP is definitely no pushover. They dominated Conference USA throughout the year, and the numbers speak for themselves.

This could easily be one of the first-round upsets we see come Thursday and Friday.

Could we see UTEP make a Cinderella run? There is no doubt in my mind that it is possible.

Butler will have to come ready to play and be prepared for a great game; if not, they could very easily be going home earlier than they expected.

I'm betting on this game to be an upset, as my bracket will show soon. I'd encourage you to do the same, because I'm smelling upset here.

Don't be surprised if you see the No. 12 seed Texas El-Paso Miners advancing on to the second round, and possibly even further. They have the potential to do some damage this March.

If Rodney Dangerfield was still alive, the UTEP Miners would be his favorite college basketball team.

If Johnny Paycheck was still living, he would probably write "Take This Bubble and Shove It" and dedicate it to the team.

Only The Hurt Locker is hotter than UTEP right now, but nobody seems to notice. The Miners have won 15 games in a row and only lost one time all season long to Conference USA opponents.

As well as the Miners are playing, it was strange to hear coach-turned-broadcaster Pete Gillen declare after UTEP humiliated the UCF Knights 76-54 that the Tulsa Golden Hurricane were the hottest team in C-USA.

It seems odd that a team that lost four games in a row in February and suffered a defeat just prior to the conference tournament would suddenly have more momentum than a team that has not lost since Jan. 13.

It is equally peculiar to hear at halftime during the broadcast of the game that C-USA will be a one-bid league because of Memphis and UAB losing in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. It is almost impossible to believe that a 25-5 team that is ranked No. 21 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll and No. 25 by the Associated Press would still be a bubble team.

The reality is that the conference is only a one-bid league if UTEP wins the tournament. Winning the regular season title in a major conference makes the Miners a lock for the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in the next three days.

The experts on CBS College Sports claim that UTEP needs more quality wins and won't get them due to the elimination of Memphis and UAB and that a loss to Houston is a key loss.

First of all, the Miners have a tough team to face in Tulsa today. Some feel Tulsa is just as good as Memphis and UAB.

If Houston is a key loss for the Miners, I guess that means North Carolina State is a key loss to Duke and Oklahoma State is a key loss for Kansas. Butler is the only team to go undefeated in conference play, so one has to question why a team with one conference loss is getting criticized for it.

If UTEP's jerseys said "Memphis" on the front of them, none of this criticism would be directed toward the Miners. For years, people were complaining the Tigers were dominating C-USA. Now that they are not, the team that is on top is being perceived as not being very good.

I thought fans enjoyed teams with star power, and that is exactly what UTEP has.

If mathematics major ever took a ruler to Randy Culpepper, Culpepper would immediately become the best dunker in college basketball under six feet tall. The diminutive guard averages 17.8 points per game and has been voted C-USA Player of the Year.

Derrick Caracter may have been a thorn on Rick Pitino's side, but Caracter has been a key component to UTEP's success since his arrival on the court. A threat from both outside and in the paint, Caracter posts 13.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

Last season, Arnett Moultrie was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team and also played for the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the FIBA U-19 World Championships.

Point guard Julyan Stone possesses one of the most unique skill sets in all of Division I. Not many 6'6" players can handle the ball as well as Stone, and he also distributes the ball effectively and defends like a monster. Stone leads C-USA in assists and has been named to the conference's All-Defensive Team.

Jeremy Williams may be a forgotten starter, but he averages 10.5 points per game and has led the Miners in scoring seven times this season. Christian Polk, Claude Britten, Myron Strong, Isaac Gordon, and Wayne Portalatin compose of the best benches in all of college basketball.

Today's game against Tulsa at the BOK Center will not be easy since the confrontation is basically a home game for the Golden Hurricane. However, the Miners have already defeated Tulsa twice, and there is no reason they cannot do it again.

Despite the thoughts that UTEP will not make the NCAA Tournament, C-USA Coach of the Year Tony Barbee believes his team can make a deep run and even win the national championship.

I'd rather take the word of Barbee than listen to so-called experts who have an axe to grind against the Miners.

Photo Credit: Randy Snyder/Associated Press

Don Haskins was better than basketball.

Though Coach may not agree with that statement, due to his modesty and how he dedicated his life to the game he loved.

Don Haskins name belongs up there with Red Auerbach, Branch Rickey, and Art Rooney Sr.

Men who knew that the ONLY race is the human race.

Men who helped make our planet, and society, a better place.

His 719 wins, 7 WAC Championships, and 17 20-win seasons over 39 years tell the story of a dedicated winner.

The Bear had only five losing seasons, which is an amazing achievement.

He endured hate from media entities like Sports Illustrated, who seemed bent on trying to lessen or destroy his program, after Texas Western won the 1966 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

Don just wanted to win. He wanted the best players on the floor, regardless of skin tone. He wasn't trying to pioneer any movement. He never saw the issue of skin color.

Only the bigots did. The ones who try to separate us by saying skin color is a race.

Don wanted to coach kids, develop kids abilities and minds, as well as win. Basketball for him, life for his players.

He was quoted to have said, "I've said this many times over the last 40 years, but for a long time I thought winning the national championship was the worst thing ever to happen to me. I wished for a long time that we had never won that game with Kentucky because life would have been a heck of a lot easier for me, my school and my players."

The negativity Coach received after that win was as unbearable as the limelight thrust upon him. He was happy in El Paso, and spurned boat loads of cash from others so that he could stay where he felt most comfortable.

He preferred anonymity, but was revered in town for his generosity and story telling. He was beloved on the hardwood, even by the opposing side.

Respect loomed as large of a shadow for the Bear as his own image. His style of coaching was well known. So superstitious that he never watched his players shoot free throws, yet as fierce as the defenses his Miners employed game in and game out.

Growing up, Tiny Archibald was one of my favorite athletes.

Would we have seen Tiny's 34 PPG & 11 APG in 1973, one the greatest single season performance in NBA history by someone not named Wilt, without Don?

That is truly debatable.

The list of excellent players who played under The Bear is long. Nolan Richardson, Tim Hardaway, Bobby Joe Hill, David Lattin, Antonio Davis, Greg Foster, Archibald, Marlon Maxey, Jim Barnes, Gus Bailey, and many more.

Coach, and his 1966 team, are inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

I hope the kids, who go to watch UTEP basketball, see that 1966 NCAA Championship banner and understand the worth of it.

Too often, we quickly forget the past.

Even when we repeat it.

Take time off from your day and recognize TRUE IMPACT!

ON SPORTS, AND SOCIETY.