UTEP Miners

AP Photo/AL.com, Mark Almond

UTEP coach Tim Floyd announces retirement after loss Monday

By Travis HinesNov 27, 2017, 11:54 PM EST

Tim Floyd’s career has taken him from benches in the Big Sky to the NBA and back to college again. He’s won big and found controversy. It’s been a career filled with highlights, lowlights and oddities.

It is now a career that is over.

Floyd, the head coach at UTEP, announced his retirement Monday after the Miners fell to 1-5 on the season with a 66-52 loss to Lamar, ending a coaching career that spans decades.

“I’ve coached for 42 years and I love this school. My father played here. Nobody wants to win here more than I do,” Floyd said in his post-game press conference. “I think it’s time for somebody else to have the opportunity to have the joy that I’ve had, the agony that I’ve had, the acclaim that I’ve had and the heartbreak that I’ve had in my career.

“I’m through. I’m retired as of today. This is my last game as a coach. I’m going to move forward with my life.”

Floyd’s first head coaching job came in 1986 at Idaho, where he was for two seasons before moving on to New Orleans. He took over at Iowa State in 1994 and led the Cyclones to three NCAA tournaments in four years before taking over the Michael Jordan-less Bulls in 1998. He went 93-235 in four-and-half seasons with the Bulls and one with Charlotte in 2003-04.

“I’ve had the most incredible opportunities,” Floyd said Monday, “and worked with some great, great players.”

The last chapters of Floyd’s career are certainly filled with interesting – and scandalous – notes. He returned to college in 2005 at USC, and led the Trojans to three NCAA tournaments and a conference tournament championship. It was marred, though, by allegations that Floyd provided money to get star recruit O.J. Mayo to join the program. Floyd denied the allegations, but resigned in 2009.

That led him to his last stop at UTEP, where feuding with USC coach Andy Enfield and the local media generated more headlines than anything the Miners did on the court during his tenure. UTEP won 20-plus games three times, but never made an NCAA tournament and slipped to 15-17 last year.

“This is the right time. I know it’s the right time,” Floyd said. “It’s been incredibly difficult to keep fighting the fight.”

Three-star point guard headed to UTEP

Associated Press

By Raphielle JohnsonSep 17, 2015, 10:00 PM EDT

UTEP adds four-star forward Brodricks Jones, former San Diego State commit

By Raphielle JohnsonAug 2, 2015, 5:10 PM EDT

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With Brodricks Jones asking San Diego State for a release from his National Letter of Intent last month, a talented four-star prospect was suddenly on the market. Sunday Jones’ second recruitment came to an end, as it was confirmed to NBCSports.com that he’ll join Tim Floyd’s program at UTEP. Jones made the decision while visiting the El Paso campus, doing so days before scheduled trips to Memphis and Providence.

News of Jones’ commitment was first reported by CBSSports.com.

Jones is the seventh addition to the UTEP program, joining junior college transfers Dominic Artis and Lee Moore, and freshmen Josh McSwiggan, Paul Thomas, Kelvin Jones and Christian Romine. And with the Miners losing Vince Hunter to the NBA, the addition of Jones is an important one for them for the 2015-16 season.

UTEP also returns veterans Hooper Vint (redshirt senior) and Matt Willms (redshirt junior) to the front court, however it was reported earlier this week that Willms is expected to miss the entire season due to a foot injury (guard Omega Harris is expected to miss the fall semester for academic reasons per that same report).

With that being the case, the addition of Jones becomes even more important for a team that will be young in the paint this upcoming season.

Former San Diego State signee Brodricks Jones trims list to four

By Raphielle JohnsonJul 12, 2015, 10:30 AM EDT

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In late June forward Brodricks Jones, who was expected to be a key piece down the line for San Diego State, surprised some people when he requested to be released from his National Letter of Intent. Jones, a four-star 6-foot-9 power forward, hasn’t lacked for attention since reopening his recruitment and Saturday night he announced via Twitter that he’s now considering four schools.

“I have narrowed my choices to Memphis, UTEP, Syracuse and Providence and will take visits in the very near future,” Jones tweeted.

In regards to Memphis the Tigers find themselves in this race just days after losing their best front court player in Austin Nichols, who asked for and was granted a release from his scholarship. Without Nichols, the Tigers return senior Shaq Goodwin in the front court with freshmen Dedric Lawson (whose brother K.J. will be in the running for minutes at the three) and Nick Marshall joining Josh Pastner’s program.

As for UTEP, the Miners have two upperclassmen in Hooper Vint (senior) and Matt Willms (junior) with four freshmen coming aboard. However, like Memphis Tim Floyd’s program is right at the 13-scholarship mark at this time. Providence, which lost two front court players (Tyler Harris and Paschal Chukwu) via transfer this offseason, has an available scholarship with sophomore Ben Bentil being their most experienced front court player.

Syracuse, which added Chukwu to its roster, has an available scholarship but does have to consider NCAA sanctions that led to them losing 12 scholarships over a four-year period that begins in 2016. Should they land Jones, the Orange would be at 12 scholarships counting commit Matthew Moyer for the 2016-17 season (provided everyone who can return does), which would be two above their new limit. Syracuse is also in the race for five-star guard Tyus Battle.

In their front court for the 2015-16 season the Orange return three upperclassmen, with junior Tyler Roberson being the most experienced of the three (DaJuan Coleman and Chinoso Okoboh being the others), and freshmen Tyler Lydon and Moustapha Diagne join the program.

Where Jones lands remains to be seen, but the four programs listed offer up interesting scenarios for the Californian. And in the case of Memphis and UTEP, adding him will likely lead to some scholarship juggling.

UTEP receives commitment from former Oregon guard

By Raphielle JohnsonMay 2, 2015, 11:00 PM EDT

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With starting guard C.J. Cooper being one of four seniors to move on at the end of the 2014-15 season, UTEP was in search of another player capable of playing the point next season. Head coach Tim Floyd has found a player capable of doing so, as it was reported Saturday night by the El Paso Times and ESPN.com that former Oregon guard Dominic Artis will be a Miner.

Artis, who attended Diablo Valley CC in California this past academic year but did not play basketball, played two seasons for Dana Altman before he and two other players were dismissed from the Oregon program last spring. Artis, Damyean Dotson and Brandon Austin were named in a sexual assault investigation but were not charged. Like Artis, Dotson will resume his playing career in Texas as he committed to Houston earlier this spring.

Austin, who played for NJCAA Division I national champion Northwest Florida State last season, has yet to pick a college.

In two seasons at Oregon Artis averaged 6.4 points and 2.7 assists in 20.5 minutes per game, shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Artis’ freshman season was interrupted by a foot injury, and a nine-game suspension for a violation of NCAA rules didn’t help matters at the start of the 2013-14 season.

He joins a UTEP perimeter that needs to account for the loss of their top two assist men in Cooper and Julian Washburn, with another junior college guard in Lee Moore joining the program as well. Omega Harris, who averaged six points per game as a freshman in 2014-15, is the team’s most productive perimeter returnee.

Artis, who will have two years of eligibility remaining, is the fifth addition to the UTEP program. In addition to Artis and Moore, the Miners will also add freshman forwards Josh McSwiggan, Paul Thomas and Christian Romine.

UTEP’s Vince Hunter is going pro

By Rob DausterApr 9, 2015, 3:16 PM EDT