The UTEP Miners announced on Monday that former Miners player and coach Sean Kugler has been hired as the team's head football coach. Kugler takes over the UTEP program following the retirement of Mike Price:
UTEP introduces Sean Kugler as football coach
The UTEP Miners officially announced the hiring of head football coach Sean Kugler on Monday.
Ivan Pierre Aguirre-US PRESSWIRE
“I have been the Miners’ biggest supporter from afar, and the job coach Price and his staff did was outstanding,” Kugler said in a release. “I can’t wait to work with the players in the near future. I spent 13 years as a player and coach at UTEP and loved every minute of it. I’m excited about starting a new chapter in my coaching career at a place that has so many fond memories.”
Currently the offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it is expected that Kugler will remain with the NFL team until the conclusion of this season, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
It will be Kugler’s first head coaching position in the college or professional ranks, and his connections to UTEP run deep. Kugler, 46, played for the Miners and current UTEP athletic director Bob Stull from 1985-88, and he later coached in El Paso, Texas, from 1993-2000.
He worked for the Detroit Lions from 2001-05, spent a year as the assistant head coach at Boise State in 2006, then returned to the NFL with the Buffalo Bills from 2007-09.
In his single season at Boise State, Kugler served for the 13-0 team in the famed 43-42 Fiesta Bowl win against Oklahoma. His specialty developing and coaching offensive lines also helped the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory in 2011.
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