UTEP has found a new leader of its football program. The university announced on Wednesday that Kansas State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel has been hired as the next head coach of the Miners.
Welcome Dana Dimel #UTEP Football Head Coach! 🏈 pic.twitter.com/C0MZoRbYna
— UTEP Football (@UTEPFB) December 6, 2017
Dimel takes over for former head coach Sean Kugler, who resigned five games into his fifth season as the UTEP head coach. Mike Price then led the team for the rest of the season as the Miners finished 0-12 in 2017.
Dimel had been in his current role at Kansas State from 2009 to this past season. He also has previous head coaching experience at Wyoming (1997-99) and Houston (2000-2002), accumulating a 30-39 overall record in that span.
Photo: Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball
“We welcome coach Dimel, his wife Julie, son Winston and daughter Josey to El Paso,” UTEP President Dr. Diana Natalicio said in a release. “We look forward to an exciting new era of UTEP Football under his leadership. His prior experience as a head coach at Wyoming and Houston and as offensive coordinator in the turnaround at Kansas State make him a great fit for UTEP and the El Paso community at this time.”
The hire also comes two weeks after UTEP hired Jim Senter as their new athletic director.
“We are very pleased to find a coach with the talent, expertise and experience of Dana Dimel,” Senter said in a release. “He has strong ties to the state of Texas. He will immediately impact recruiting in the state of Texas and he is a proven winner.”
“I’m greatly looking forward to the opportunity at UTEP to build a program utilizing a ‘1-0’ concept,” Dimel said. “I would like to thank President Natalicio and Jim Senter for the opportunity. We will work diligently to elevate UTEP football to the highest level in Conference USA. Having been a part of a major turnaround at Kansas State and having the success we did at Wyoming, I’m just really excited about the leadership challenge that’s ahead.”
Dimel will be formally introduced on Thursday afternoon at a press conference in El Paso.
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