Scotty Walden has carried a Pickaxe on his shoulder all spring practice with the number 15 on it. His inaugural season at UTEP was proof of how slim the margin of error from 3-9 to a bowl game is. The Miners lost three games by 14 combined points, and were either leading or tied in the fourth quarter in all of them.
They need to find 15 points this offseason, and the team has been looking for them by doing mat drills in a dingy back room of UTEP’s Memorial Basketball Gym. This is where the 1966 “Glory Road” basketball national champions at Texas Western were built, and it’s where Walden’s 2025 team will be, too.