You will have to excuse UTEP athleticdirector Bob Stull if he has an extra interest in the Philadelphia-Arizona NFC championship game Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
Stull and Eagles head coach Andy Reid and Philadelphia offensive coordinator andassistant head coach Marty Mornhinweg have a long-time friendship -- and anattachment to UTEP.
Reid was the offensive line coach at UTEP in 1987 and 1988 when Stull was the Miners' head football coach. Mornhinweg, who is theformer head coach of the Detroit Lions, was also on the UTEP staff.
"Marty was a graduateassistant here for two years and then went with us to Missouri,"
Stull said. "He took Andy's place when he went to Green Bay (after three years at Missouri). They are both good guys, good football coaches."
Reid has been extremely successful at Philadelphia. Did Stull see a future head coach in Reid all those years ago?
"Andy was an excellentoffensive line coach,"
Stull said. "He was a great detail guy. He left nothing to chance and he was really a hard worker. Andy had a good sense of humor. He could laugh ... he could laugh with his guys. He was really good with the players. And another important thing is that he always had a really good offensive mind."
There is also one more UTEP tie to the Eagles' coaching staff. Wide receivers coach David Culley was an assistant at UTEP on David Lee's staff. And, of course, former Miner Quintin Demps is a kickreturner and defensive back with Philadelphia.
Actually, Stull has former assistant coaches scattered all around the NFL.
"Dave Toub is the special teams coach with the Chicago Bears,"
Stull said. "He was a former UTEP player and we made him the strength coach. We took him to Missouri with us and he then got into coaching. He was the special teams coach of the year (as voted on by his peers) in 2006. Ken Flajole coached our secondary here and at Missouri and he is the linebackers coach with the Carolina Panthers now. And then Dirk Koetter, who was our offensive coordinator here at UTEP, is the offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars."
All eyes will be on Glendale and Pittsburgh on Sunday as the NFL playoffs wind down. Stull said he might go to the game in Glendale.
And who could blame him?
