WATCH: A day in the life of UTEP Head Coach Joe Golding

EL PASO, Texas - Joe Golding has been UTEP's head men's basketball coach for about nine months now but if you ask the 46-year-old West Texas native, it feels like longer.

"It feels a lot more like three years," laughs Golding.

Just less than one year ago, Golding's life turned upside-down when his 14-seed Abilene Christian Wildcats upset the 3-seed Texas Longhorns in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

But if there was anyone more nervous than Golding, it was his wife Amanda watching from the stands.

“He was like 'We’ve got a chance to win this game,'" says Amanda of her always optimisitc husband. "I’m like yeah. And you always have a chance to win the game that’s why you play the game."

Texas was fresh of their first Big 12 Tournament Title in school history, while Abilene Christian had never won an NCAA Tournament game.

Regardless, Abilene sunk two free throws with 1.2 seconds to play to seal the 53-52 upset win.

Amanda's nerves were on full display in the final ten minutes, as CBS cameras showed the rollercoaster of emotions on the coach's wife's face.

"I had no idea they were going to put me on tv as much as they did. And he gives me a hard time because he’s like you could tell from your facial expression you didn’t believe that we were going to win that game!"

"And I said that is not it at all. I was just a nervous wreck. And to be really honest I knew that if we won that game, that our lives were gonna change. I knew that the odds of him getting another job were high and we’d be moving and I knew our lives were going to completely different if we won that game.”

Nearly one month later the Golding's were in El Paso, as Joe was introduced as the 20th coach in UTEP history on April 13th.

It's a long way from the man Amanda met when both were working at Sachse High school outside Dallas.

"Well he was the basketball coach. And I was the cheerleading coach and so we had to interact a little bit," recalls Amanda. "I think I’m the one that actually went into his office and asked him for the schedule and that’s how we met for the first time.”

Roughly two months after getting married, Joe came to Amanda and told her he was quitting his job to work as a volunteer assistant coach at Collin County Community Cllege.

"We just got married, we just bought a house. And I'm like you better find something to make some money because we can't afford this house."

Joe took a job at a real estate firm to make income, while honing his craft as a basketball coach for one year at Collin County before becoming a full-time assistant at Abilene Christian.

Now in El Paso, Joe can't believe how quickly he's meshed with his new city.

"When the cameras were on me and I was driving to UTEP, I knew nothing about El Paso," says Golding of his first day on the job.

"You know and here with a camera and I know. I feel like El Paso’s home!” he laughs as he navigates through El Paso's West Side on his morning commute to campus.

Joe and Amanda have two sons, Cason and Chase.

Cason is a freshman on the Varsity Boys Basketball team at Coronado High School, with Joe and Amanda frequents at the team's games.

For a big rivalry game against Franklin last month, UTEP star shooting guard Souley Boum tagged along to watch from the stands.

“Souley wanted to come watch Cason play a game and I thought it was really really sweet that he came," says Amanda of the Miners' leading scorer.

"He got there 30 minutes early. I told him it’s probably gonna be crowded, so he got there 30 minutes and of course there were a lot of fans that wanted to say hi to Souley.”

It's all a part of the familial culture that Joe has brought with him to the Miners, both on and off the court.

Of course Joe's enigmatic on-court persona and loud, tight-knit huddles are well documented to those who have ever seen him coach on the sidelines.

But off the court, it's Joe's desire to re-ignite the city's passion for UTEP basketball that keeps him going.

"if you have a fan base that's behind your program, a community that's behind your program, that packs the arena, that brings pride and energy into the arena, you're going to win your home games."

"And that's real."

It's clear that the Golding family has bought into El Paso thus far.

And they're hoping that El Paso is buying into them.

Watch ABC-7 Sports Anchor Nate Ryan ride with Joe Golding on his way to work to see where coach likes to frequent around the community.