Downtrodden Miners must raise intensity

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	What: WAC football, Hawai'i (1-1) at Texas-El Paso (1-2) Kickoff: Saturday at 3:05 p.m. TV/Radio: Live on K5, replay on K5 at 9 p.m./2 p.m. on 1420 AM

After being outscored a combined 145-17 in consecutive losses to Kentucky and Oklahoma, the Miners (1-2) face a team that is ranked second nationally in total offense and fifth in scoring.

"Hawai'i is scary all over the board, and the way we've been playing, this is not the ideal situation to go into right now," UTEP coach Gary Nord said of Saturday's game in the Sun Bowl.

Nord said he has tried to redirect his players' thoughts, reminding them that the true test begins with this week's opening of the Western Athletic Conference schedule.

Still, he said: "When you lose two games by that much, it becomes a counseling job instead of a coaching job. ... I really think our intensity level was way down. We have to get our intensity level up to give us a legit opportunity to win any ball games this year."

But all of the Miners' woes pale in comparison to their dark-and-stormy past. Before winning the 2000 co-WAC championship in Nord's first season as head coach, the Miners endured 11 consecutive losing seasons. A service that ranked the "bottom 10" had dubbed the school, "Texas at El (Intercepted) Paso."

"This program has struggled for many years," Nord said. "But I think now we have everything in place to make this a good solid football program year in and year out."

An $11 million athletic complex recently was completed, and at the end of the 2000 season, Nord's contract was extended through 2007. The security enabled Nord to build through high school recruiting. Nord's three recruiting classes have not included a junior college player.

Despite preseason optimism last year, the Miners finished 2-9.

"We knew we were going to take a step back because of the small amount of seniors we had in that class," Nord said. "The last year we had six scholarship seniors. This year we have 11 scholarship seniors (and) only about seven are playing (regularly) for us.

"We have a lack of numbers in the upper class due to the fact we quit recruiting the junior college kids. We knew it would be a couple of rebuilding years and take a little bit of time. I think, in time, it's the right way to go. It's going to pay off. We're not going to have our peaks and valleys. It's going to be a pretty consistent team in time."

Nord said he is having more success recruiting in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

UTEP officials also are marketing the team in neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which accounts for about a fourth of the Miners' fan base.

"We were third in the conference in attendance, and we weren't worth a darn last year," Nord said. "We were right at 34,000 people per game. You get that type of support with that lack of production as a team, and there's not many head coaches who will complain about that. I'm very pleased with the support we're getting here."