Tom Mason brings aggressive defense to UTEP

(Photo: Times file photo)The last two years of Tom Mason's life professionally have been brutal.

He was defensive coordinator at SMU in 2014 when coach June Jones abruptly quit after two games, Mason was at Hawaii last season when Norm Chow was fired at midseason.

There was a list of things Mason wanted with a new job, none bigger than stability. He found that when Sean Kugler asked him to coordinate UTEP's defense.

"Big time," said the 38-year coaching veteran. "One thing I wanted to make sure in a program it wasn't going to be one and done. I'm ready to come into a community, a mid-sized or bigger city where people care about the program, you've got kids you can win with ... I'm not a…