UTEP set to hire Austin Peay’s Scotty Walden as next head football coach

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – UTEP football is expected to hire Austin Peay head coach Scotty Walden as its 27th head coach, sources confirmed to KTSM on Monday morning. FootballScoop was the first to report the news and it was then also confirmed by ESPN and other outlets.

The hiring of Walden must first be approved by the University of Texas Board of Regents, sources said, but that is almost always a simple formality. An official announcement by UTEP should come on Monday.

Walden has been the head coach at Austin Peay for the last four seasons, going 26-14 in that time with back-to-back winning seasons and a trip to the FCS Playoffs in 2023. At 34 years old, he’s one of the younger head coaches in college football.

He was one of five candidates that KTSM confirmed interviewed for UTEP’s opening over the weekend, along with UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, Texas Tech associate head coach Kenny Perry, Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley and former UTEP offensive coordinator Eric Price.

UTEP prioritized a young, offensive-minded coach during its search and Walden appears to fit the bill. The Govs averaged over 426 yards and 34 points per game in 2023 and also had a 3,000-yard passer in quarterback Mike DiLiello, a 1,000-yard rusher in Jevon Jackson and a pair of wide receivers that went over 700 yards.

Walden played a year of college football at Sul Ross and also coached there for a season as offensive coordinator. He also served as Southern Miss’s interim head coach in 2020, after he was the co-offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.

A native of Cleburne, Texas, Walden also made a stop at East Texas Baptist, first as the offensive coordinator from 2013-2015 and then as the head coach in 2016, before moving to Southern Miss as the wide receivers coach in 2017-2018.

UTEP has not yet officially announced the hire or discussed it publicly.

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