Illinois hires former UTEP coach Dana Dimel as a senior offensive assistant

Former UTEP coach Dana Dimel has been hired as a senior offensive assistant at Illinois, coach Bret Bielema announced Monday.

Dimel was UTEP’s coach from 2018-23 and previously was coach at Wyoming and Houston.

The Miners were 5-26 over Dimel’s first three seasons in El Paso and went 7-6 and played in the New Mexico Bowl in 2021. He was fired last November after back-to-back losing seasons.

Dimel coached Wyoming to three straight winning seasons from 1997-99 and had three losing seasons in a row at Houston from 2000-02. He had three stints as an assistant at Kansas State and also worked at Arizona.

Bielema also announced the hiring of former Western Illinois coach Myers Hendrickson as a senior analyst.