Miner Illustrated Information/Staff List

Miner Illustrated has been covering UTEP sports for the last seven years. The main goal of Miner Illustrated is to provide Miner fans with total coverage of UTEP athletics.

MinerIllustrated.com is a division of Shamrock Media, LLC. The site was established in July 2009 as a "blog" before re-launching as a news and information website in Sept. 2009.

Miner Illustrated, a fully-credentialed online media publication, is dedicated to the dissipation and analysis of information and events relating to UTEP Athletics. The Miner Illustrated Staff provides coverage of recruiting, player profiles, team analysis and other articles in order to better engage the UTEP fan community.

Miner Illustrated provides both free and premium content to our valued users. People wishing to view premium content and features can do so by trying out our 7-day free trial by going to this link, or by calling 1-866-2-RIVALS. For more information on premium subscriptions visit this link.

The great thing is that the content, premium and free, is available all day and everyday at Miner Illustrated. So click away and enjoy.

Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Chris Avila: President

Chris is a native El Pasoan, born and raised in the Sun City. He is a proud graduate of Montwood High School (class of 1997), and was fortunate to continue his studies at the University of Notre Dame (class of 2001). Upon receiving a business degree from the Golden Dome, Chris returned home and began working in the field of education for a local school district. He continued his education by receiving a masters in education from UTEP in 2006 and completed his doctoral dissertation in the Educational Leadership and Foundations department at UTEP in May of 2011. Chris is undoubtedly a passionate and vocal supporter of the Fighting Irish, but also follows wholeheartedly the Chicago Cubs and Dallas Cowboys.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @chrisavila_01.

Danny Levario: Director of Business Operations
Danny is a native of Anthony, Texas and has lived in the El Paso area for most of his life. He graduated from El Paso's Cathedral High School in 1995 before moving on to the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1999). After graduating from Notre Dame, Danny moved to San Diego where he spent three years working as a tax accountant with a "Big 4" firm. In 2002, he moved back to El Paso and worked as a teacher and basketball coach at an El Paso Catholic high school. Danny now works as a tax accountant with a local construction company. A long time sports fan, Danny follows the Irish, Miners, Chicago Bears and San Antonio Spurs.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com.

Jeff Taylor: Chief Photographer

Jeff has been Miner Illustrated's chief photographer since the fall of 2009, shooting football, men's and women's basketball and softball. A native of Albuquerque, N.M., living there since elementary school, he arrived in El Paso as a member of a proud military family. Jeff is a graduate of Socorro High (1983) and UTEP (2006) and is employed full time as a critical care Registered Nurse. He is an enthusiastic college sports fan, following UTEP, Longhorn football and the University of Georgia, to name a few. He has been an avid amateur photographer for many years and is currently developing a professional portfolio to expand into the portrait, quinceañera and wedding fields. You can view his work by clicking here.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or contacted at his photography website.

Sal Guerrero: Pete's Quarry Podcast co-host

Sal Guerrero has been in and around UTEP sports all his life, attending games as a youngster and later covering the Miners for multiple media outlets. He began his journalism career at Montwood High School working on the media production team and later continued in college as the football beat writer for The Prospector, UTEP's student newspaper. After less than a year at the paper, officialsportsreport.com covering all things college sports, picked him up as the associate managing editor for the UTEP division. A year later he found his way back to The Prospector taking over the sports editor position and shooting photography. After finishing his degree in journalism he teamed up with Miner Illustrated in the summer of 2011. On a side note, Sal was also a UTEP cheerleader for a few years, something the Miner Illustrated staff refuses to forget. If you have any question regarding the cheerleading please do not hesitate to ask him.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @SalDGuerrero.

Josh Puga: Staff writer

Josh Puga has been working with Miner Illustrated since the Aug. 2010, bringing Miner fans the latest and most up-to-date recruiting information you won't find anywhere else. He, along with fellow writer UTEP66, was the backbone behind MI's much read "Scouting Mine" article. The article has taken on a new shape by splitting into two separate article, basketball and football, but that doesn't mean Puga's perspective or eye for talent has diminished.

Puga also pens weekly opinion articles and features in regards to UTEP basketball's recruiting trail.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @JPuga1966.

Angel Luna: Staff writer

There are three things you need to know about Luna: he was born and raised in Puerto Rico, is an avid fan of college sports, especially football, basketball and volleyball and in 2003 he moved to El Paso, Texas. Since then, he's followed UTEP's basketball, football and volleyball teams, faithfully, while also keeping a closer eye on their respective recruiting efforts. Luna played competitive volleyball and softball in high school and enjoys playing golf, softball, basketball and the piano in his spare time.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @quantumii_usa.

Chad Middleton: Staff writer

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @ chad600espn .

William Vega Staff writer

William Vega enters Miner Illustrated with a career and local-media experience over the past four years. Vega is currently a journalism teacher and a freshmen girl's basketball coach at Coronado High School. On the side, he volunteers with KVIA's Borderland Blitz, high school football show, which airs every Friday night. He would make occasional on-air appearances with the program as the War of the Week reporter. He recently resigned from his position as writer for MinerRush.com. Vega graduated from UTEP in May 2012 with a bachelor's in multimedia journalism and a minor in secondary education. During his four-year tenure at UTEP, he interned with KVIA's sports department since August 2008 and began working for The Prospector in January 2011. Four months later, he was promoted to sports editor, a position he held for a year until he graduated. While at The Prospector, Vega was the beat writer for UTEP soccer, women's basketball and softball. He also covered men's basketball, football as an editor, running the social media section and would occasionally cover track & field, tennis, volleyball and cross-country.

He may be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @WillVega21.

FEATURED PRODUCT