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 in Conference USA (CUSA). They are coached by Scotty Walden. 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
The University of Texas at El Paso (then known as the State College of Mines and Metallurgy) fielded its first intercollegiate football team during the 1914 season. Since its founding, the school has been known as the "Miners", a moniker used to reflect the original pedagogy of the university. First competing as an independent, UTEP joined the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also known as the Border Conference, in 1932. In 1956, the team won its first-conference championship and received an invite to the Sun Bowl, under then-head coach Mike Brumbelow. In 1962, the team left the Border Conference to become independent, before joining the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1968. Up until that point, the team had made eight bowl appearances, all in the Sun Bowl, and accumulated a record of 5–3.
The team left the WAC in 2005 to join Conference USA, where it has played since. In October 2024, the university accepted an offer to join the Mountain West Conference, prior to the 2026–27 academic year.[2]
Conference affiliations
UTEP has competed as a member of three different conferences since 1914. Following the 2025 season and the 2025–26 year, the team will move from Conference USA to the Mountain West Conference.[2]
- Independent (1914–1934)
- Border Conference (1935–1961)
- Independent (1962–1967)
- Western Athletic Conference (1968–2004)
- Conference USA (2005–present)
Conference championships
UTEP has won two conference championships, one outright and one shared. In 1956 the UTEP Miners finished the year with a 9–2 overall record and a 5–0 in conference to win the Border Conference and its first conference champions title. The season included wins over Arizona, Arizona State, and Texas Tech. The Miners were defeated by North Texas that year. Forty-four years later in 2000, the Miners shared the Western Athletic Conference Champions title with TCU. UTEP finished 8–4 overall record and a 7–1 in conference. The season included wins over Fresno State, Rice, and SMU. The Miners were defeated by TCU, its only loss in conference play.
| Season | Conference | Coach | Overall Record | Conference Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Border Conference | Mike Brumbelow | 9–2 | 5–0 |
| 2000† | Western Athletic Conference | Gary Nord | 8–4 | 7–1 |
† Co-champions
Head coaches
UTEP has had 26 head coaches, and one-interimn head coach. Two coaches have won conference championships with the Red Raiders: Mike Brumbelow and Gary Nord. As of the 2025 season, Mack Saxon is the all-time leader in games and program wins, while Brumbelow has the highest winning percentage .651. Since the 2024 season, the team has been led by Scotty Walden, who previously served as head coach at the Austin Peay State University.[3]
Bowl games
UTEP has played in fifteen bowl games, compiling a record of 5–10. They have not won a bowl game since 1967, the longest drought among NCAA Division I FBS teams and a drought of 56 years.[4]
| Season | Coach | Bowl | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Mack Saxon | Sun Bowl | Hardin–Simmons | L 6–34 |
| 1948 | Jack Curtice | Sun Bowl | West Virginia | L 12–21 |
| 1949 | Jack Curtice | Sun Bowl | Georgetown | W 33–20 |
| 1953 | Mike Brumbelow | Sun Bowl | Southern Miss | W 37–14 |
| 1954 | Mike Brumbelow | Sun Bowl | Florida State | W 47–20 |
| 1956 | Mike Brumbelow | Sun Bowl | George Washington | L 0–13 |
| 1965 | Bobby Dobbs | Sun Bowl | TCU | W 13–12 |
| 1967 | Bobby Dobbs | Sun Bowl | Ole Miss | W 14–7 |
| 1988 | Bob Stull | Independence Bowl | Southern Miss | L 18–38 |
| 2000 | Gary Nord | Humanitarian Bowl | Boise State | L 23–38 |
| 2004 | Mike Price | Houston Bowl | Colorado | L 28–33 |
| 2005 | Mike Price | GMAC Bowl | Toledo | L 13–45 |
| 2010 | Mike Price | New Mexico Bowl | BYU | L 24–52 |
| 2014 | Sean Kugler | New Mexico Bowl | Utah State | L 6–21 |
| 2021 | Dana Dimel | New Mexico Bowl | Fresno State | L 24–31 |
Home stadium
Rivalries
New Mexico State
The Battle of I-10 Rivalry is named for the New Mexico State-UTEP rivalry.[5] The 110–year–old series has had many exciting finishes in its storied history. UTEP holds the series lead at 60–39–2,[6] largely due to dominance in the series from the 1920s to the 1960s. The rivalry is either played in El Paso or Las Cruces, New Mexico.
| Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | UTEP wins | UTEP losses | UTEP Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | October 31, 1914 (Lost 0–19) | November 30, 2024 (Won 42–35) | 60 | 39 | 2 |
National award winners
- Jack Curtice (1972)
All-Americans
- Fred Carr, LB- 1967 (NEA-1; Time-1st; TSN-1st; CP-2nd)
- Charlie West, DB- 1967 (NEA-2nd; Time-1st; TSN-1st)
- Dennis Bramlett, C- 1969 (NEA-2nd)
- Kyran Duhon, DE- 2024 (CFN Freshman All-American)
Future non-conference opponents
Announced schedules as of July 24, 2024.[7]
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2032 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at Utah State (8/30) | at Oklahoma (9/5) | Houston Christian (9/11) | at Nebraska (9/2) | UNLV (9/1) | at UNLV (9/7) | at Texas (9/13) | Texas Tech (9/18) |
| UT Martin (9/6) | at Michigan (9/19) | at Texas (9/18) | Utah State (9/9) | at Nevada (9/8) | at Texas State (9/27) | ||
| at Texas (9/13) | at San Jose State (9/26) | San Jose State (9/25) | Texas State (9/16) | at Texas (9/15) | |||
| at Wyoming (9/23) | Wyoming (9/29) |
References
- ^ The University of Texas at El Paso Graphic Identity Guide (PDF). Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ a b "Mountain West Officially Welcomes UTEP Into The Conference". Mountain West Conference. October 1, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ "Walden, 34, leaves Austin Peay to take UTEP job". ESPN. December 5, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ "UTEP Miners Bowls".
- ^ "I-10 Rivalry Resumes on Saturday". University of Texas at El Paso. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017.
- ^ "mcubed.net : NCAAF Football : Series records : UTEP vs. New Mexico St". mcubed.net. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017.
- ^ "UTEP Miners Football Future Schedules". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
