Who will UTEP's next head coach be? Here are some potential candidates

The UTEP head football coaching job has never been considered a particularly hot commodity.

Pay is poor by industry standards, including for assistants, El Paso is a hard place to recruit to, and the majority of coaches who take on the challenge end up getting fired like Dana Dimel.

It does offer opportunity and UTEP can present itself as a stepping stone. There will be plenty of resumés hitting athletic director Jim Senter's desk.

Getting some sort of an NIL for football and increasing salaries, which all seems doable, could make it more attractive.

The first place to look will be FBS coordinators or power-five position coaches and presumably an offensive background will be a plus for a team that hasn't always been exciting to watch.

What will be interesting in the days to come is how much El Paso and UTEP ties matter to Senter, as there are some coaches who fit that criteria.

Here is a list of some possibilities as UTEP begins a national search for its 27th head football coach.

Mack Leftwich, Texas State offensive coordinator

The 29-year-old UTEP grad led Division I's best offense last year at Incarnate Word at the FCS level and has now turned in a successful season in the FBS. Texas State is ranked 10th nationally in total offense and 16th in scoring.

UTEP likely can afford him.

Robert Rodriguez, Arizona Cardinals outside linebackers coach

The 41-year-old UTEP and Montwood alum has college coaching experience at UTEP and Arizona State, where he was the defensive line coach from 2020-22.

In 2007 he was voted El Paso's most popular athlete in an the El Paso Times reader poll and the charismatic Rodriguez still retains that popularity here.

Tony White, Nebraska defensive coordinator

The Burges alum last coached in El Paso in the 2019 Sun Bowl when the Arizona State defense he coordinated keyed the Sun Devil win. His first year at Nebraska this season was successful from a defensive standpoint.

Brennan Marion, UNLV offensive coordinator

His first season with the Rebels was a revelation, as UNLV won the Mountain West regular season title while averaging 424 yards per game. The 36-year-old was an assistant at Texas in 2022 and played in the Sun Bowl against UTEP when he was at Tulsa.

Dana Holgorsen, former Houston head coach

If UTEP again wants to try hiring someone who was fired at Houston, Holgorsen became available, though he would forfeit much of his $14 million buyout.

The Cougars were 12-2 in 2021 and earned an invitation to the Big 12 before the program slumped to 4-8 this year.

Pete Rossomando, Lamar head coach

This was the 51-year-old Rossomando's first season at Lamar as he took over a 1-10 program. After losing their first three games this year, the Cardinals went 6-2 in the Southland Conference.

Emmett Jones, Oklahoma wide receivers coach

A long-time high school coach, Jones played one season as a wide receiver at UTEP in 1996 and had several stints at Texas Tech.

Zach Kittley, Texas Tech offensive coordinator

The 32-year-old was at Western Kentucky before Texas Tech so he knows Conference USA. He is the son of national championship-winning track coach Wes Kittley.

Jeff Banks, Texas special teams coordinator

The former UTEP assistant, who went to Texas from Alabama where he was recruiting coordinator, likely would have to take a pay cut to come back to UTEP.He was a Miner assistant from 2004-12.

Jason Eck, Idaho head coach

The 46-year-old led the Vandals to an 8-3 mark this year, a No. 4 seed in the FCS playoffs and Senter has strong ties to Idaho. Eck would be getting a major raise to come to UTEP and he knows how to recruit players to hard-to-recruit areas.

Of all the candidates he's the most connected to Senter.

Jeff Grimes, Baylor offensive coordinator

The UTEP alum starting his coaching career at Riverside High in 1993. He's since worked his way up through a number of power five schools.

Baylor has struggled this year but Grimes has expressed interest in the UTEP job.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: List of UTEP coaching candidates after Dana Dimel firing