In news no one expected to see, the NCAA announced Tuesday UTEP and head coach Dana Dimel have been hit with violatins for violating the organization's rules.
"Hit with" might be overstating it a bit, since the NCAA notes UTEP itself was part of the negotiation process for the penalties it will now serve.
In charges UTEP acknowledged, the NCAA found offensive and defensive quality control staffers provided instruction during practice, which is against NCAA rules. Those violations occurred in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years, Dana Dimel's first two seasons as head coach.
The Miners went a combined 2-22 in those years.
As a result, Dimel has been placed on a one year show-cause probation, will serve a 4-day suspension from on-field coaching, and will serve a 10-day suspension from off-campus recruiting during the 2020-21 recruiting period. (That last one doesn't seem like much of a penalty, given the 2020-21 contact period essentially did not happen.)
Additionally, UTEP must reduce the number of countable coaches by one for six practice days during the 2021-22 academic year.
Dimel's suspension would seemingly occupy four of those days, and the Miners will presumably serve all those days during the 2022 spring practice period.
Dimel is heading into his fourth season at UTEP and led the Miners to a 3-5 mark in 2020, though they went 0-4 in Conference USA.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.