UTEP Miners | |
---|---|
University | University of Texas at El Paso |
Conference | Conference USA |
NCAA | Division I |
Athletic director | Bob Stull |
Location | El Paso, Texas |
Varsity teams | 15 |
Football stadium | Sun Bowl Stadium |
Basketball arena | Don Haskins Center |
Mascot | Paydirt Pete |
Nickname | Miners and Lady Miners |
Fight song | Miners Fight |
Colors | Dark Blue, Orange, and Silver |
Website | utepathletics |
UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, when they joined Rice, Tulsa, and SMU in leaving the WAC for Conference USA. The UTEP Miners are best known as the only team in Texas to win a NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. UTEP's colors are orange and blue and the mascot is a miner named Paydirt Pete. The athletic director for the Miners is Bob Stull.
A member of Conference USA, UTEP sponsors teams in six men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
Men's Intercollegiate Sports
Women's Intercollegiate Sports
Playing their first game in 1914, the UTEP Miners football team currently competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team plays its games in the Sun Bowl Stadium, and head coach Mike Price recently retired from his 9th and final season at UTEP in 2012.
The winner of the UTEP vs. New Mexico State University football game receives a pair of traveling trophies: The Silver Spade and The Brass Spittoon. The first spade used for this purpose was an old prospector's shovel dug up from an abandoned mine in the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1947. This was the symbol of victory, and the spade was given to the winner of the football game between the Miners and Aggies each year.