The latest on UTEP’s search for a new head football coach

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Exactly one week into UTEP’s search for a new head football coach, the process appears to be in its final stages.

Sources told KTSM on Sunday that Miners brass – including president Dr. Heather Wilson and athletic director Jim Senter – interviewed the final candidate on Sunday and would be meeting on Sunday evening to discuss all of the candidates and wrap up the decision.

The Miners’ choice is expected to be made within the next 24 hours or so, sources told KTSM on Sunday.

The five candidates interviewed by UTEP that KTSM has confirmed through a multitude of sources include: UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion; Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley; Texas Texas associate head coach Kenny Perry; Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden; and former UTEP offensive coordinator Eric Price, who coached the Miners under his father, Mike.

UTEP interviewed Kittley, Perry, Price and Walden in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex over the weekend. Marion was the final candidate interviewed on Sunday and is the only candidate that interviewed in El Paso in person, sources told KTSM, in part because UNLV played in the Mountain West Conference championship game on Saturday afternoon.

Sources have told KTSM throughout the process that the Miners have prioritized a young and offensive-minded coach, but Perry and Price are still in the hunt.

Walden played a year of college football at Sul Ross and at 34 years old, he’s led Austin Peay to back-to-back winning seasons and the FCS Playoffs in 2023. He also served as Southern Miss’s interim head coach in 2020, after he was the co-offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.

Kittley is young (32 years old), but he is a bright offensive mind in college football. He’s been an offensive coordinator since the 2018 season at Houston Baptist, Western Kentucky and now Texas Tech and his teams have always been explosive offensively. He’s also known as a strong developer of quarterbacks and worked with Patrick Mahomes when he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech. His name isn’t as hot as it’s been in previous years, but quarterback injuries hampered the Red Raiders this season.

A source told KTSM back on Monday that Marion is “very interested” in the UTEP job opening. UTEP fans saw firsthand what Marion can do when the Running Rebels beat the Miners 45-28 in September, rolling up 497 total yards and over 300 on the ground. He helped UNLV to a 9-4 2023 season, one of the best in recent memory in Las Vegas. At 36 years old, Marion’s name has been in the mix other places already, but at this point he hasn’t been hired.

Perry got his start in high school coaching in Texas and has worked his way up the ranks. Now the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at Texas Tech, Perry has also coached in the collegiate ranks at Kansas, SMU and TCU, but never as a head coach. Widely respected across the Lone Star State by high school coaches, Perry could help the Miners get their foot back in the door in the world of recruiting in DFW.

Price is the unexpected candidate of the five that KTSM has learned of through sources. An offensive coordinator at UTEP from 2004-2007, he’s also coached in the NFL as an assistant for a variety of teams. He knows what it takes to be successful at UTEP and has frequently visited in recent years, particularly since his brother, Aaron Price, served as UTEP’s special teams coordinator from 2021-2023.

With the Miners appearing ready to make a decision soon, the wait will soon be over.

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