The Miners’ 3-9 season conclusion with a 42-28 defeat against undefeated Liberty at the Sun Bowl, where a sparse crowd witnessed the disappointing outcome.
UTEP terminated football coach Dana Dimel on Sunday, marking the end of his coaching tenure after five losing seasons in six years
Dana Dimel guided UTEP over a span of four seasons during which the team struggled to secure more than three victories. Having resumed his head coaching role in 2018 after a 16-year break, Dana Dimel had previously enjoyed success with three winning seasons at Wyoming from 1997 to 1999, followed by three challenging years with Houston. His combined record at the Texas-based institutions was 28-75. Taking the reins of a winless UTEP team, Dana Dimel led the squad through back-to-back 1-11 seasons before achieving a 3-5 record in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Athletic director Jim Senter, who appointed Dana Dimel in 2018, acknowledged the initial progress in making UTEP football more competitive
However, he expressed disappointment in the insufficient improvement necessary for championship contention. After a 7-6 season in 2021 with a New Mexico Bowl loss, the Miners regressed to a 5-7 record the following year.
As UTEP searches for a new coach, the incoming leader will confront the challenge of overcoming the program’s extensive history of losing, with only seven winning seasons in the last 50 years and 20 instances of losing at least 10 games.
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