Article Launched: 8/08/2006 12:00 AM
UTEP basketball: What's next?
By Bill Knight / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
For only the fifth time in the last 45 years, but for the fourth time in the last seven years, UTEP will begin a search for a new basketball coach.
Doc Sadler, UTEP's coach for the past two years, is expected to be named the new head basketball coach at the University of Nebraska at noon MDT today during a news conference in Lincoln.
And so, once again, the search will begin.
Naturally, names are bandied about like balloons at a county fair. And, naturally, the first two names will be a pair of veteran assistant coaches on the current UTEP staff -- Randall Dickey and newcomer Tony Benford. But there will be others -- names like former assistant James Holland, who now is an assistant at the University of Alabama, and former assistant Alvin Brooks, who now is with Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M.
Of course, there never will be a basketball opening in El Paso without the name of one of this city's favorite sons popping up -- Nolan Richardson.
And that is just the beginning of the names that will float around.
UTEP is expected to hold a news conference later today, addressing the coaching search. However, the Miner athletic administration almost certainly will be mum on individual candidates. That has been the policy in the past.
The Miners, as did Nebraska, almost certainly will utilize a search firm -- more to screen the candidates and their backgrounds than to actually identify a particular coach. UTEP athletic director Bob Stull had no comment Monday, but he most likely has his own list in place, ready to go.
Dickey has served both seasons with Sadler and also has been an assistant at Washington State for four years and Oklahoma State for five years.
Benford, who is from Hobbs, was a standout player at Texas Tech and most recently was an assistant at Arizona State for eight years. Benford also was an assistant at New Mexico for six seasons. Benford was hired by Sadler in July after Holland left to accept the position at Alabama.
Holland was a scout for the Washington Wizards for a year before joining Sadler's staff at UTEP. He served as an assistant at Georgia, the University of South Carolina and San Diego State.
Richardson, a Bowie High School and Texas Western graduate, has won a national junior college championship at Western Texas, an NIT championship at Tulsa and an NCAA championship at Arkansas.
Don Haskins, UTEP's Hall of Fame coach who led the Miners for 38 of the last 45 years, said, "We've certainly had two good coaches in the last two. Billy has shown how good he is by turning A&M around, and Doc is a great coach. I've watched practice and I was very impressed with all the assistant coaches. They can all coach."
No one is quite sure how long the process will take. But the search is on.
Bill Knight may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6171.
