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UTEP announces that Phil Johnson will replace Tim Floyd

Tim Floyd

Tim Floyd

AP

UTEP has named longtime Tim Floyd assistant Phil Johnson head coach after Floyd abruptly announced his retirement on Monday night after a loss to Lamar.

The loss dropped the Miners to 1-5 on the season.

“I’m going to talk to the team today,” Johnson said. “I think we have some possibilities. I think we have talent in here. We have a losing record, but we don’t have any losers on our team. We have good coaches. We’ll all do this together. We’re going to figure out a way to get the most out of this team.”

Johnson has previous head coaching experience, running the San Jose State program for four years in two different stints, in 1998-99 and from 2002-2005. He’s spent 16 seasons on staff with Floyd, including two years in the NBA, and also won a ring with Arizona in 1997.

“Larry Eustachy was the National Coach of the Year and worked for me,” Floyd said on Monday. “I had another guy, John Brady, who was at LSU and was the National Coach of the Year. He worked for me. Randy Bennett has done the best job in the United States at Saint Mary’s University, a very, very difficult place. He worked for me. Kermit Davis worked for me. Phil Johnson is better than all of those guys.”