UTEP Miners football


The UTEP Miners football program represents Texas at El Paso in the sport of American football. The Miners compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and in Conference USA. 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 15 and postseason bowl appearances. The Miners play their home games at the Sun Bowl which has a seating capacity of 51,500.
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History

The University of Texas at El Paso 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 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, starting in the 2026–27 academic year.

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.

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.
1956Border ConferenceMike Brumbelow9–25–0
2000†Western Athletic ConferenceGary Nord8–47–1

† Co-champions

Head coaches

UTEP has had 26 head coaches, and one-interimn head coach. Two coaches have won conference championships with the Miners: Mike Brumbelow and Gary Nord., 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 Austin Peay State University.

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.
1936Mack SaxonSun BowlHardin–SimmonsL 6–34
1948Jack CurticeSun BowlWest VirginiaL 12–21
1949Jack CurticeSun BowlGeorgetownW 33–20
1953Mike BrumbelowSun BowlSouthern MissW 37–14
1954Mike BrumbelowSun BowlFlorida StateW 47–20
1956Mike BrumbelowSun BowlGeorge WashingtonL 0–13
1965Bobby DobbsSun BowlTCUW 13–12
1967Bobby DobbsSun BowlOle MissW 14–7
1988Bob StullIndependence BowlSouthern MissL 18–38
2000Gary NordHumanitarian BowlBoise StateL 23–38
2004Mike PriceHouston BowlColoradoL 28–33
2005Mike PriceGMAC BowlToledoL 13–45
2010Mike PriceNew Mexico BowlBYUL 24–52
2014Sean KuglerNew Mexico BowlUtah StateL 6–21
2021Dana DimelNew Mexico BowlFresno StateL 24–31

Home stadium

Since 1963, UTEP has played at the Sun Bowl. From 1938 to 1962, they played at Kidd Field.

Rivalries

New Mexico State

The Battle of I-10 Rivalry is named for the New Mexico State-UTEP rivalry. The 110–year–old series has had many exciting finishes in its storied history. UTEP holds the series lead at 60–39–2, 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 playedFirst meetingLast meetingUTEP winsUTEP lossesUTEP Ties
101October 31, 1914 November 30, 2024 60392

National award winners

'''Amos Alonzo Stagg Award'''

All-Americans

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of January 14, 2026.
at Oklahoma at Boston College at Nebraska at Texas at Texas Texas Tech
Texas Southern Houston Christian Utah State at Texas State
at Michigan at Texas Texas State
Oregon State