UTEP and ETSU have a number of things in common as they prepare for the 2018 football season.
Both have first year coaches in Dana Dimel and Ricky Sanders, respectively. Both are trying to build competitive programs in their conferences and both will travel to Knoxville in early September to take on the University of Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.
ETSU, which had Carl Torbush as head coach for 3 years prior to Sanders taking over, went 12 years before that without a football program. Sanders, a former Morristown resident, was briefly suspended earlier this spring for allegedly striking a player.