{"id":60980,"date":"2024-07-16T10:27:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T15:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=60980"},"modified":"2024-07-16T10:27:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T15:27:42","slug":"steven-sipple-its-easy-to-understand-how-utep-coach-scotty-walden-34-can-wow-an-a-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/steven-sipple-its-easy-to-understand-how-utep-coach-scotty-walden-34-can-wow-an-a-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Sipple: It\u2019s easy to understand how UTEP coach Scotty Walden, 34, can wow an A.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

UTEP head coach Scotty Walden <\/a><\/strong>strikes you as an enthusiastic conversationalist. It doesn\u2019t take much to get him going.<\/p>\n

Especially if you bring up Eric Crouch<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\u201cEric Crouch is one of my favorite quarterbacks of all time,\u201d said the 34-year-old Walden, the second-youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. <\/p>\n

\u201cI brought that up to my quarterbacks,\u201d Walden added. \u201cI had to pull up the highlight tape. They didn\u2019t know who that was. That\u2019s because of my age. I\u2019m getting up there. It makes you mad.\u201d <\/p>\n

Walden, 34, smiled as he recalled the former Nebraska quarterback\u2019s greatness. Walden smiles easily. He\u2019s an excitable sort, and he sounds genuinely excited to bring his team to Lincoln for an August 31 showdown set for 2:30 p.m. on FOX.<\/p>\n

He understands the difficult nature of the challenge. Along those lines, he has another Nebraska quarterback on his mind \u2014 the current one. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve certainly watched the spring game and studied who they\u2019ve brought in,\u201d Walden said. \u201c(Dylan) Raiola<\/a><\/strong> is as good as I\u2019ve seen. I\u2019m just being honest. I watched the entire spring game, and that kid is special. It\u2019s his arm talent, his ability to extend the play and keep his eyes down the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a unique skill set with his arm angles. He can make all the throws.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition, \u201cI love the speed they have at receiver,\u201d Walden said. \u201cThe backs are physical. They\u2019re big up front. We\u2019ll certainly have our hands full in game one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nebraska Opponent Spring Review: UTEP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\n

That’s our Head Coach #WinTheWest<\/a> | #PicksUp<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/FS0BLGI36U<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UTEP Football (@UTEPFB) July 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Walden ranks as second-youngest FBS head coach<\/h2>\n

Walden, who succeeds\u00a0Dana Dimel<\/a><\/strong> (20-49 in six seasons at UTEP), possesses a youthful energy \u2014 and, well, that makes sense. Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham also is 34, but was born about 6 1\/2 months before Walden. <\/p>\n

Walden is so enthusiastic in discussing the city of El Paso, Texas, that you think he must be talking about Austin or San Antonio.<\/p>\n

He describes UTEP\u2019s fan base as \u201cphenomenal.\u201d He points to 5,000 fans at the Miners\u2019 spring game as a major victory. \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal at the G-5 level,\u201d he said, noting 30 program alums were on hand. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting the energy back at our place is critical,\u201d Walden said. \u201cI\u2019ll do anything to get the energy back, to get the juice right at UTEP. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing. It\u2019s been fun to watch the alumni pour back in, the donor base pour back in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, you know, we signed the No. 1 recruiting class in Conference USA. That\u2019s because our staff has hustled so hard to get kids on campus.\u201d <\/p>\n

He mentions a $5 million locker room set for completion in August. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things to be excited about when you\u2019re talking about being a Miner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Walden\u2019s record is impressive <\/h2>\n

To be sure, Walden is a salesman, but he\u2019s more than that. He\u2019s obviously a gifted head coach. <\/p>\n

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Walden comes off a four-year stint at Austin Peay, where he led the Governors to a 26-14 mark with four winning seasons (4-2 in COVID-shortened 2020-21, 6-5 in 2021, 7-4 in 2022, and 9-3 in 2023).\u00a0The Governors hadn\u2019t enjoyed back-to-back winning seasons since 1983 and 1984.<\/p>\n

Walden\u2019s\u00a0career head coaching record is 34-20, including 7-3 in one season at East Texas Baptist University in 2016.\u00a0Walden was also interim head coach at Southern Mississippi for four games in 2020, going 1-3. <\/p>\n

He obviously has a challenging job as UTEP\u2019s head coach. Interestingly, he\u2019ll also coach the quarterbacks and call plays. In that regard, he understands the challenge of facing Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> version of the 3-3-5. <\/p>\n

Walden understands the challenge in part because his own defensive coordinator, J.J. Clark, also uses the 3-3-5 as his base. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that\u2019s a misnomer about the 3-3-stack, it\u2019s not just that we line up with three down linemen, and that\u2019s it,\u201d Walden said. \u201cThere are so many<\/em> fronts. As I\u2019m studying film on Nebraska, (White), in about 20 snaps, is going to give you about 15 different fronts. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that makes us prepare all summer, that makes us prepare all fall. You don\u2019t know where he\u2019s bringing (pressure) from.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\n

Incredible interview @HuskerOnline<\/a> did with Tony White. White was bringing the heat. Some interesting tidbits:
-He\u2019s pissed about 3rd down D
-Other teams tried to hire away a bunch of their D staff-even 3 yr deals. None left
-the BIG\u2019s OLs were the biggest adjust for White. pic.twitter.com\/YMEqqtm3nX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jim in MN (@HuskersMN) March 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

One can see why this young coach impresses ADs<\/h2>\n

Look for Walden to have success at UTEP, and don\u2019t be surprised if it\u2019s immediate. His enthusiasm alone will help him get things done. I experienced it firsthand in early June in the heat of Texas. UTEP\u2019s coaches were on hand with Nebraska\u2019s for satellite camps in both Belton and Houston. <\/p>\n

In the new age of college football, I tend to cheer for Group of 5 programs. In terms of funding, they\u2019re at a wicked disadvantage compared to Power 4 schools. That almost goes without saying. <\/p>\n

But Walden is convincing when he says he can make it work at UTEP \u2014 he has an NIL collective already up and running \u2014 and I\u2019ll bet he can be extremely convincing in front of a school president or athletic director or whoever\u2019s trying to hire him. <\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to popular belief, it absolutely can work here,\u201d Walden told me. \u201cYou may not get the elite players that a Power 4 program is going to get. But when you have a system and a vision for what you\u2019re going to do, and you know it\u2019s going to fit at your place, you can recruit to that. <\/p>\n

\u201cA kid may not be 6-foot-6; he might be 6-foot-4. But you know what, we can make him into a 6-foot-4 cat that plays really freaking hard and bleeds the orange and blue, and buys into our brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can win with that. One-hundred precent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a Texas high school outfit\u201d<\/h2>\n

Of course, he said, UTEP uses the transfer portal to its advantage. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are a Texas high school outfit,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are going to build the core of our foundation with high school players. People are like, \u2018If you do that, you may only have them for two years.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Brother, listen to me. I\u2019d rather have a really good player for two years than have a bunch of average players for four years.\u2019 You know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d <\/p>\n

The young man makes a lot of sense. I\u2019ll be keeping my eye on the Miners. <\/p>\n

They should enjoy Walden while they have him because it probably won\u2019t be for long.<\/p>\n

Never miss breaking news or another HuskerOnline article again. Click HERE to sign up for HuskerOnline\u2019s Daily and Breaking News Newsletters.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Steven Sipple: It\u2019s easy to understand how UTEP coach Scotty Walden, 34, can wow an A.D.<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UTEP head coach Scotty Walden strikes you as an enthusiastic conversationalist. It doesn\u2019t take much…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61008,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60980\/revisions\/61008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}