UTEP names Theron Aych as new inside wide receiver coach

El PASO, Texas - UTEP head football coach Dana Dimel announced the addition of Theron Aych to the staff as the new inside wide receivers coach for the Miners on Monday afternoon.

Aych returns to El Paso for a second stint after serving as the wide receivers coach at UTEP during the 2016 season.

The 20-year coaching veteran spent the last four seasons as the wide receiver and tight ends coach at the University of Arizona.

Aych also has previous experience working under Dimel after he served as an assistant on the staff at Houston as the running backs, tight ends and specialist coach from 2000-02.

“We are really pleased to have Theron join this football program and bring the experience he has in this profession,” Dimel said. “He has been coaching a long time and has a very high knowledge base of offensive football. I think he will bring that talent to not only our inside receiver position, but also to the whole offense.”

In his only season with the Miners, Aych coached a wide receiver unit that helped haul in 21 receiving touchdowns, the most for the program since 2010.

The balance provided in the pass game allowed UTEP to improve its per-game scoring by nearly a touchdown from 20.7 points per game in 2015 to 26.3 points per game in 2016.

Additionally, receiver Terry Juniel was named honorable mention All-Conference USA.

Prior to 2016, Aych served as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Angelo State for five seasons from 2011-15, where he was named a finalist for the Division II AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year award.

Under Aych, the Rams’ offense put up staggering numbers in 2015, leading the nation (Division II) in total offense with over 560 yards per game and ranking seventh in points per game (42.5).

Senior quarterback Kyle Washington, under Aych’s tutelage, threw for 3,691 yards (Angelo State single-season record), ranking sixth in the nation. Washington registered 27 passing scores and only nine interceptions.

Washington also rushed for 831 yards and 15 scores as he led the nation in total offense and broke ASU’s single-season record for total yards with 4,522. Washington was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

In 2014, Angelo State averaged 39.4 points per contest, while also racking up 469.7 yards of total offense per game as the Rams registered a 9-3 overall record that season.

Washington set a single-season school record by throwing for 34 touchdowns and being the first Ram in history to throw for more than 3,000 yards with 3,236 on the year.

Aych previously spent four seasons at Central Missouri in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association from 2004-07.

During his time with the Mules, Aych coached tight end Delanie Walker, who was drafted as a wide receiver in the 2006 NFL Draft after an impressive collegiate career.

Prior to his time at Central Missouri, Aych spent a season at the University of Washington on the other side of the line of scrimmage, assisting with the outside linebackers and punters as a defensive graduate assistant.

Aych coached two Huskies – linebackers Marquis Cooper and Greg Carothers – who signed NFL contracts.

Cooper was an All-Pac-10 selection in 2003 and a fourth-round round selection of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While at the University of Houston, Aych coached running back Joffrey Reynolds, who was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year by Sporting News.

Reynolds rushed for over 1,500 yards in 2002.

The Zachary, La., native has also coached at the junior college level – Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College and Mesabi Range (Va.) Community College – and the high school level at Aberdeen (S.D.) Central.

Aych earned three letters as a wide receiver at Northern State University in Aberdeen and was an All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Honorable mention selection.

He earned a degree in sociology and criminal justice from NSU in 1996.

Aych and his wife, Gwyn, have two children, Tommy and Katelyn.