The wait for who will take over as UTEP head football coach will be a little longer than anticipated. UTEP athletic director Bob Stull announced on Monday that no decision had been made on naming an interim coach after former head coach Sean Kugler stepped down from the position on Sunday.
The athletic director told reporters on Monday that Kugler was the one to reach out to him on Sunday. He accepted his resignation but Stull, who announced his retirement in August, wanted to make sure he made the right decision.
“I have not made a decision on what I’m going to do yet,” he said, “I’m going to take a little bit more time. I’m going to talk to the coaches individually. I want to talk to some of the players before I make this next decision. I just don’t want to rush into it. Within the next couple of days [a coach will be named]. Hopefully by tomorrow.”
UTEP offensive coordinator Brian Natkin (Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball.com)
Stull did not rule out the possibility of bringing in someone from the outside as well. That said, the two in-house candidates most likely to take over the job are offensive coordinator Brian Natkin and defensive coordinator Tom Mason.
Both were available on Monday to speak in preparation for the Miners game against Western Kentucky, but also took time to address Kugler’s departure.
This is an extremely difficult situation not only for our team but for our coaching staff,” Natkin said, “I have known Coach Kugler for 21 years. He was the tight end coach when I got recruited. He was one of the major reasons why I came to this university. I want to thank coach Kugs for everything he did, not only for this university but for me personally. He is a Miner through and through.”
“It was a shock and I really appreciated the opportunity that I had to work with Sean Kugler,” Mason said, “I thought he was a quality guy. But I have been in that situation before and sometimes as a head coach the losses start to weigh on you and it gets to the point where sometimes you have to step down and step aside. I hated to see it happen, I really did.”
UTEP defensive coordinator Tom Mason (Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball.com)
It’s been a wild recent ride for the former Miner great Natkin. After offensive coordinator Brent Pease was let go two weeks ago, Natkin was moved up from his previous role of tight ends coach and special teams coordinator. In his remarks, he did not publicly advocate to get the interim head coaching job. Instead, he wanted the focus to remain on the team.
“I will support whoever gets the job. I’m a UTEP guy. I care about the team and the university,” Natkin said, “If they offer me the job, I will take it, but I will not go out and beg for the job.”
Mason, who has had two previous interim coaching stops at Boise State and SMU, echoed a similar sentiment.
“We still have seven games left,” Mason said, “I told the kids, ‘all we gotta do is win six of the next seven games and we could get into a bowl game,’ We’re not a bad football team. It’s just about getting the kids to believe in what they are doing.”
The Miners host defending C-USA champion Western Kentucky (2-2) on Saturday at the Sun Bowl.
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