UTEP Basketball searching for a better Doc

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our UTEP Correspondent Carlos Silva Jr. updates how the UTEP basketball coaching search is looking so far.

EL PASO, TX - During a tumultuous series of events over the past two weeks, Doc Sadler, head coach of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners has decided to take the head coaching position at Nebraska.

Although the media had asked Sadler about rumors going to the Cornhuskers, he would always deny all claims and maintain that his mind was still on UTEP basketball.

"I was never out looking for a job," Sadler said in a recent El Paso Times article. "My whole focus was UTEP basketball until Sunday, when we got a commitment from an outstanding player in Dale Vanwright."

Even though many El Paso fans will hold a grudge against the Ex-Miner basketball coach for leaving, you have to respect what he has done for the Miner basketball program for the past three years.

Coming to UTEP as an assistant, for then coach Billy Gillespie, Sadler contributed to an NCAA record-tying turnaround for one team by improving from six wins the year before, to 24, as well as qualifying UTEP for its first NCAA tournament birth since the 1992 Haskins team.

Sadler was soon promoted in 2004, when Gillespie was offered the head coaching job of the Texas A&M Aggies. Sadler, who was thrilled about coaching the Miners, did nothing but win the years after.

Sadler, 46, recorded an overall record of 48-18 in the two seasons he coached at UTEP. In his first year he led the Miners to a 27-8 record and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2004-2005. Sadler’s second year was troubled by injuries and suspensions, but he still rallied his team together and posted a 21-10 record. This included tallying an 11-3 record in the newly formed Conference USA and a berth in the NIT.

Unfortunately, UTEP, as well as the fans must move on and ask: “What’s next Mr. Stull?”

Bob Stull, athletic director for UTEP, has already begun a nationwide search for a new coach which includes: UTEP assistants Randall Dickey and Tony Benford, former UTEP assistants James Holland and Alvin Brooks, who are assistants at the University of Alabama and Texas A&M respectively. The true dark horse of this group is El Paso native, and former Arkansas Razorback’s head coach Nolan Richardson. Here is a quick look at who I believe will be head coach of the UTEP Miners.

Benford looks to be the favorite because he lived in Hobbs, NM, which is close to El Paso, and being an assistant at Arizona State and New Mexico gives him excellent recruiting ties in those areas.

Dickey was an assistant at Washington State and Oklahoma State, who looks to either be the head coach at UTEP, or follow Sadler to Nebraska, as do most of the assistants.

Holland served as an assistant at Georgia, the University of South Carolina and San Diego State. He became a pro scout for the Washington Wizards a year before joining Sadler's staff at UTEP. Holland has great recruiting ability, and hopes this lands him the job.

Richardson, who graduated from Bowie High School and Texas Western, is definitely the most decorated of the bunch. He won a national junior college championship at Western Texas in 1980, an NIT championship at Tulsa in 1991 and an NCAA championship at Arkansas in 1994. The El Paso native is definitely the fan favorite, but it is doubtful he would take the UTEP job because of the contract disputes he would have with Arkansas, stemming from a racial discrimination claim he made in 2002.

All the candidates are anticipating their name to be called but one thing is for sure, they will be expected to win just like their predecessors, or face the music few have heard in the past 45 years.