Is it just me, or is there something terribly wrong with a ton of people in this city? Over the last few days I've noticed, more than ever, the lack of support for the UTEP football team. People go on different forums including this one, Miner Illustrated, and El Paso Times to complain about CMP, the state of the football program, and what they feel is their remedy to our team barely beating a division 1-AA opponent. The funny thing is that I can almost guarantee that the vast majority of these people won't even shell out $10 to go and support the team. If you can't support the team, then quit your bitching, because you have no place to talk.
Yes, whether you want to admit it or not, we are in a rebuilding year. Drop your emotions from the disappointment of last season, and snap back to reality. We lost our 4 year starting QB, our top receivers, and our entire offensive line. Is it really a huge question as to why this offense struggled early against a top d-1AA opponent? I am one that was disappointed as well, but to bash the players, the program, and the coach, after one bad half of football is extremely unfair.
I want to pose this question. Would it have made a difference in that game if we had 52,000 screaming fans, instead of probably less than 20,000 whining? Our team had to overcome their own challenges as a young team, the challenges of an experienced team across the ball from them, and to top everything off, they had to overcome their own fans. How sad is that? People just don't realize how important they are to the program.
The most popular complaint is that we need to get rid of head coach Mike Price. Believe me, I am one that has been disappointed with some of the outcomes of his teams, but we also have to realize where we came from, and just how far he has brought this program. We had three consecutive 2-10 seasons prior to the Mike Price era. Not only have we not seen that since, he matched those 3 years with 6 wins last season, even after we suffered injuries at nearly every position on the field.
Now, this is not to say that because of where we were, we have no right to expect more out of our teams, but its on us to do our part as well. More fans in the stadium means more money for the program, and more money for the program usually turns into better results for the program. Even if we were to get rid of CMP, and go out for another coach, where do we suppose we'd find the money to hire a decent coach? We wouldn't find the money, and we'd wind up seeing the repetitive cycle we saw for the entire last decade with our basketball program.
Point is, don't worry about coach Price. He is on the hot seat. If he doesn't have a successful season this year, he'll more than likely be gone. No one needs to hear your unfounded complaints to make that decision. At the same time, a successful season in a year like this is 6 wins, and not 10. Go out and buy a ticket. Let's truly support our team, and we might just be surprised at what we see.