Price Leaves WSU for ...

This little article was cooked up before I actually knew how short Mike Price's 'Bama stint would be. I got the time right, but all the wrong reasons ...

News! 
(Sometime in the near future ...)

From the Alabama Reporter / Photo by Billie Bob's brother ... Bobby Bob

Coach Price, greeting his first WalMart customer as he takes over the head greeter position in the new store in Bisquilly, two miles south of the turnoff to Uncle Bob's Computer Cabils and Hardware Store, and one mile East of Bobsville.

Short Stint for Price

Mike Price, former Head Coach of the University of Alabama. Price, seen above as the newest Greeter for Wal-Mart in Bisquilly, Alabama, says that he regrets "those two losses" and that the 'Bama fans got so upset in his first four weeks on the job.

Price admits that it was his "questionable play calling" that caused the fumble on the 2 yard line, and the interception on the 6 yard line, and the interception on the first and goal that cost 'Bama the game. "I was wrong to send out the 15 wide receivers on the first and goal. I should have done the standard quarterback sneak thing. That would have been better."

'Bama fans were further upset by the fact that Price insisted on passing, when the running game had worked so well for 'Bama in the past 6 or 8 decades. Said one Alabama fan, "Here at Alabama, we have a rich tradition of running the ball. We have watched the Tide roll over so many teams. We just got disgusted, I guess, when that new guy from Who iS yUo came in here and screwed it up so bad. Our recruiting has suffered, our team has suffered. At Alabama we just don't like to lose. I mean, Starting the season 2 and 2? Gimme a break!"

Price added that his trick on-side kick in the first 10 seconds of the first quarter was also a mistake. "At Wazzu, these plays used to work. Here ... well, I guess you have to play the game smarter," or it will come back to bite you."

When asked about his drastic pay-cut, and the minimum wage legislation being considered recently by the Alabama Legislature, Price said gratefully, "The government, leaders and people of this great land, do indeed, care about the downtrodden and the "down-and-out. And you can take that to the bank."

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/15/02

WSU confirms UCLA wants to sit down with Price

PULLMAN -- Washington State football coach Mike Price and the school's athletic director have confirmed that UCLA has sought permission to talk with Price.

UCLA's former coach, Bob Toledo, was fired Monday -- two days after the Cougars beat the Bruins 48-27 and clinched a trip to the Rose Bowl. On Friday, Washington coach Rick Neuheisel, who played for UCLA and got his coaching start there, said he's not interested in the California job.

After practice Friday, Price and WSU athletic director Jim Sterk issued a joint statement confirming that UCLA, but not Alabama, has requested permission to speak with Price.

Alabama is looking to replace Dennis Franchione, who left for Texas A&M.

Earlier Friday, there were several reports in Alabama suggesting Price had interviewed with Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore while accompanying Outland Trophy winner Rien Long to the ESPN College Football Awards Show.

When reporters from here and Alabama pressed Price about the reports at practice Friday, he issued a tongue-in-cheek statement through a team spokesman: "I have not been officially contacted by UCLA."

Earlier in the week, Price said neither Alabama nor UCLA had sought him out.

But after practice Friday, he and Sterk issued their clarifying statement.

Price, 56, got a contract extension in mid-September and intends to retire in the Palouse, but he's made clear he will listen to job offers. He is hot right now, having guided the Cougars to their second Rose Bowl in six seasons and consecutive 10-2 records.

Price has been head coach at WSU for 14 seasons. His five-year contract runs through June 30, 2007 and has a provision that adds a year after each winning season.

That would mean the contract now extends to June 30, 2008.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/17/02

Price's name still making the rounds; Alabama becomes the focus of speculation about coach's prospects

PULLMAN -- Conjectures about Mike Price's job prospects have blown eastward in the past few days.

The Washington State coach has withdrawn his name from the UCLA search, but has continued to communicate with the University of Alabama, according to several published reports.

The contact appears to have been informal. It evidently began last week at Orlando, Fla., where Price attended an awards presentation.

Alabama's supposed list of candidates is lengthy and its search appears to be in its early stages, but Price's name has been the one most frequently mentioned in recent speculation.

Price, 56, has never lived or worked in the South, but he has known Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, 61, for several years.

When Moore was an assistant coach at Alabama in the 1970s, he visited Pullman to interview, unsuccessfully, for the Washington State head-coaching job. Price, a WSU assistant at the time, gave Moore a tour of the campus.

"He'd been on a recruiting trip all night long, and the guy was up for 48 straight hours," Price said last week. "He was exhausted. If he'd gotten a good night's sleep, he might still be the head coach at Washington State."

Alabama is seeking a replacement for Dennis Franchione, who absconded Dec. 6 for Texas A&M.

Price owns an 83-77 record in 14 years at WSU. The Cougars take a 10-2 record into the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 against Oklahoma.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/18/02

Tribune/Kyle Mills
Mike Price is leaving his post as WSU's head football coach to take over the program at the University of Alabama.

Price goes out with the Tide; Popular WSU football coach heads for Alabama

PULLMAN -- Washington State football coach Mike Price, whose patience and longevity have been credited with coaxing the Cougars to an unprecedented level of success, is leaving the school to become coach at the University of Alabama.

Washington State has scheduled a news conference for 10:30 a.m. today, and it's widely believed that defensive coordinator Bill Doba will be promoted to head coach.

Alabama and WSU both declined to announce Price's move, but remarks by Price and Washington State players Tuesday evening left no doubt about the coach's intentions.

"I just couldn't pass it up," Price told the Eastside Journal of Bellevue, Wash., after meeting with stunned Cougar players at the Pullman campus. "I'm getting up there (in age). I've got to do this for my family."

Price then reportedly boarded a private jet and embarked for Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Crimson Tide, one of the country's most storied football programs, had evidently dispatched the jet last week to an airport at Coeur d'Alene, where it has been waiting for several days.

Price, 56, leaves the school two weeks before the Cougars' second Rose Bowl appearance in six years. It is Price's fifth bowl bid in 14 years at Washington State, a school that had appeared in only four bowls between 1916 and 1988.

"I'm not sure anybody understands or appreciates what Washington State had in Mike

Price," said Jim Livengood, the former WSU athletic director who hired Price in 1989. "In my opinion, he's the consummate football coach.

"If all this does happen, he will be an incredible hire for the University of Alabama, and a tremendous loss not only for Washington State but for the Pac-10," said Livengood, now AD at the University of Arizona. "People love being around him."

Price will replace Dennis Franchione, who left the Tide on Dec. 6 to become coach at Texas A&M.

Alabama is ineligible for bowl appearances through the 2003 season because of NCAA probation, stemming from violations that occurred before Franchione's tenure. He has said the probation was a major factor in his decision to leave.

But Price reportedly holds the Alabama program in high enough regard that he would leave Washington State. He played for the Cougars from 1965 to '67 before graduating from the University of Puget Sound.

"Mike Price is a Cougar -- he went to school there; his blood is crimson and gray -- but I think he's fulfilling a childhood dream," said Chris Del Conte, a friend of Price's and another former WSU administrator, now at Arizona. "He's had a chance to go many places in his tenure at Washington State. But I think he's fulfilling a dream we'd all have if we were in that profession."

In September, Washington State extended Price's contract through the 2007 season, with a clause that adds a year for every winning season he achieves. But the contract doesn't penalize him for leaving the school early.

Including perks, Price earns more than $900,000 per year at Washington State, but he's expected to get a substantial raise with this move.

The Cougars (10-2) play Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 at Pasadena, Calif. Before news broke of Price's departure, the coach said Tuesday afternoon he intends to coach in the Rose Bowl. There are indications that athletic director Jim Sterk will allow him to do that.

Until recently, Price had found it difficult to win consistently at Washington State. His 14-year record is only 83-77, but that includes a 20-4 mark the past two seasons.

He guided the Cougars to the Copper Bowl in 1992, the Alamo Bowl in 1994, the Rose Bowl following the 1997 season and the Sun Bowl last year.

Cougfan.com - Posted Dec 18, 2002

What They're Saying
No shortage of verbiage in wake of Price rolling to Tide

Compiled by the staff of Cougfan.com

FROM KEITH JACKSON to Calvin Armstrong, the words about Mike Price's departure range from shock to hurt to big-time concerns about his professional future:

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/19/02

After Rose Bowl goodbye, Doba will take over: Crimson ties; As he departed for the Tide, Price recommended his longtime aide -- and the Cougars paid heed

PULLMAN -- For several years, Bill Doba has seemed a logical successor to Mike Price as Washington State football coach. But would Price ever leave? Three months ago, he signed a contract that could have kept him in Pullman ad infinitum.

But Price did leave, and Doba did become his successor Wednesday, at age 62.

It's the first collegiate head-coaching job for a man who began his career 38 years ago as a freshman-squad coach at a small high school in Indiana.

"My first goal was just to be a varsity assistant," Doba said at a news conference at Bohler Gym. "Then maybe I could be a head coach somewhere, Back then, I never dreamed I'd be a head coach at a major university."

Yet Price recently asked WSU athletic director Jim Sterk, "What would you do if I left?'' and Sterk said his response was, "The first person that comes to mind is Bill Doba."

Price approved enthusiastically, not long before accepting the head-coaching job Tuesday at Alabama.

Doba said he met with Price and Sterk at about 4 p.m. that day, and learned two bits of news at once: Price was leaving and Sterk was recommending him as successor.

"For the past three years," said Sterk, who has been Cougar AD since 2000, "I've observed Bill Doba and just been impressed with his dedication to his profession, his knowledge of the game, the tremendous amount of credibility he has (among coaches) ...

"Probably more importantly is the way he treats his players. I've been impressed with the way they play with their heart and soul. That's one thing you can't buy."

Sterk was referring to WSU defensive players. Doba, as defensive coordinator, has overseen that unit with virtual autonomy since 1994. He has also coached linebackers since Price hired him for his initial WSU staff in 1989.

Senior linebacker Mawuli Davis and junior cornerback Jason David attended the news conference announcing Doba's promotion.

"It's a good chance for coach Doba to spread his wings," Davis said. "I think he'll do an awesome job. I love him to death."

Doba has yet to sign a contract, but Sterk said they are working toward a five-year agreement that would resemble Price's contract with the school.

Price's base salary was $155,000, but perks and incentive clauses pushed his 2002 salary beyond $1 million.

Cougar assistants Mike Levenseller and Robb Akey plan to stay at the school, but others like Aaron Price, Chris Ball and Kasey Dunn are expected to join the Alabama staff.

Levenseller will retain his position as offensive coordinator, probably with far more autonomy that he had under Price, whose specialty is offense. Akey is expected to be promoted to defensive coordinator.

Until recent weeks, Price had seemed increasingly entrenched in the Cougar job. In September, he signed a contract extension that would have perpetuated itself as long as he produced winning seasons.

Only infrequently has Doba has been mentioned as a prominent candidate for head-coaching posts at other schools, though Price endorsed him publicly for a job at Indiana a year ago.

"I've always said I didn't want to actively chase after jobs," Doba said. "But if this (WSU opening) ever came about, I would be more than thrilled to have that opportunity."

When asked why he didn't want to chase other jobs, Doba mentioned two factors:

One, such chases are time-consuming. "Some guys are always trying to work a deal to get an interview here and an interview there, and I think it hurts their coaching."

Two, "This is a hard place to beat," he said of Pullman. "Where else in America can you go to the grocery store, the post office and fill your car with gas and be home in a half-hour?"

Doba and his wife Judy have three grown children.

Born in South Bend, Ind., Doba coached at four high schools in Indiana, winning enough games as a head coach to be inducted into a state hall of fame.

He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant for Lee Corso at Indiana in 1977, and served stints at Purdue and The Citadel before coming to WSU.

When news broke of Sterk's decision Tuesday night, Doba said he received about 20 phone calls from longtime assistants around the country, congratulating him for breaking through to the head-coaching ranks.

His promotion became official Wednesday morning when approved by WSU president V. Lane Rawlings, who said he deliberated on the matter for "oh, about a minute and a half."

Doba had spent 38 years arriving at that minute and a half.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/19/02

Price eyes final assignment at WSU: the Rose Bowl

PULLMAN -- When Mike Price returns to Washington State today after receiving a lavish reception at the University of Alabama, he may face the same challenge that divorced parents sometimes face: how to please two families at once.

A day after being introduced as Alabama's new football coach, Price plans to begin preparation for the Cougars' Rose Bowl date Jan. 1 against Oklahoma.

He is scheduled to serve as the Cougars' head coach in that game despite the school's decision Wednesday to promote defensive coordinator Bill Doba to replace Price, effective Jan. 1.

Washington State players, coaches and administrators evidently want Price to share in this reward for a 10-2 season and a 14-year head-coaching tenure at WSU. But many Cougar fans disagree, to judge by the irate phone calls the athletic department was receiving Wednesday.

It's an unusual arrangement. Even WSU athletic director Jim Sterk couldn't name another coach who had participated in a bowl game after being hired by another school.

It did happen in 1987, when Mack Brown of Tulane landed a job at North Carolina and still coached the Green Wave in the Independence Bowl. Tulane lost 24-12 to Washington.

Sterk said retaining Price for the Rose Bowl bid was his, Sterk's, idea. When he mentioned it to Price, "It was like a weight lifted off his shoulders," the AD said.

Sterk and Doba said allowing Price to stay put gives the Cougars the best chance of winning the Rose Bowl. An abrupt departure by Price and several assistants might temporarily leave the school with only three coaches: Doba and his two unit coordinators. And it would prevent Doba from establishing contact with recruits and otherwise laying the groundwork for his tenure.

As it is, the entire Price staff plans to coach in the Pasadena, Calif., bowl game, at least in some capacity.

"I don't know how much he'll coach," backup quarterback Matt Kegel said. "He hasn't really been participating in practice lately. And that's when I figured something must be going on (with the Alabama vacancy). Usually he's in there, calling plays and giving me a whole bunch of information. Lately he's been chilling out and not really saying very much."

Kegel said Price had told him, during recruiting visits four years ago, he would remain at WSU through the quarterback's career at the school. The apparent starter in 2003, Kegel learned Tuesday that Price was possibly headed to Alabama, and arranged a meeting with the coach early that afternoon.

"I wanted to know what was going on," Kegel said. "He didn't say anything to me, but I could feel that he wasn't going to stick around. And that was really hard for me, because he is the man who came into my house and told me he was going to be my coach. He promised me he would stay until I was done. Now he's broken that promise.

"Man, it's hard. I hate to see him go. I don't know if he's going for the money or what."

Yet Kegel said he wants Price to coach in the Rose Bowl.

"He's been a father figure to some of us, and it hurts that he left us," he said. "But we're going to have to accept that.

"You could look at it like, 'We want to get coach Doba in there and coach us up and get a humongous win going into next season.' But I don't think that would be right. I think we have enough class and respect for coach Price to fight through all the hardships and focus on what we need to do."

When Price decided to leave, he informed his players in a 10-minute team meeting Tuesday evening. At the end, players and coaches gave him a standing ovation.

"All those people that say coach Price shouldn't be coaching in the Rose Bowl are wrong," said Rob Rainville, the former WSU offensive lineman who now serves as a graduate assistant. "The amount of work he's put in here, recruiting kids to Washington State and building this program to what it is today. ... There's not a person in the world who deserves to win the Rose Bowl more than coach Price."

Price guided the Cougars to the 1998 Rose Bowl, but lost to Michigan 21-16.

Hours before accepting the Alabama offer, Price told reporters he intends to participate in this second chance.

"It's my goal, and always has been my goal, to cross the Rose Bowl field and shake the hand of the losing coach, with a smile on my face because of victory," he said. "That's a vision I've had forever."

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/19/02

Price shines in Tuscaloosa debut

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- With the Bear's son looking on, Mike Price walked with Joe Namath past portraits of Alabama's All-Americans and into a packed room adorned with bouquets of crimson poinsettias.

Nice start, coach.

Price was introduced Wednesday with a seven-year contract, taking over a proud but troubled team after turning lowly Washington State into a Top 10 program.

Price paid the requisite homage to revered Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant, embraced the lofty expectations and tradition at Alabama and expressed confidence he could steer the program through NCAA probation.

"I want to be the second-best coach in the history of Alabama football," the 56-year-old Price said. "If I could do that, I think that would be wonderful.

"It probably isn't going to be done the way Papa did it, the way coach Bryant did it. It's going to be the way I do it. To walk on the same sidelines that he walked is a huge honor."

Price accepted the job Tuesday, replacing Dennis Franchione, who left two weeks ago to coach Texas A&M. Athletic director Mal Moore would not disclose the terms of the deal, but Franchione was offered about $1.5 million annually to stay.

Price was making about $900,000 at Washington State. He visited Tuscaloosa last Friday, seeing the sights with the late coach Bryant's son, Paul Jr., a university trustee. He saw enough to convince him to move a couple thousand miles and leave a thriving, Rose Bowl-bound Washington State program after 14 years for "football heaven."

"There isn't a college coach in the country who wouldn't want this job," said Price, who will coach the No. 7 Cougars against Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. "It's the premier job in the world, and I respect that. And I'm taking it seriously.

"Alabama football means more to me than you'll ever know."

Price also vowed this will be his final coaching stop, welcome words for Alabama fans stinging from Franchione's abrupt departure after going 10-3 in his second season.

"This is it for me," Price said. "This is the end. I'm not going anyplace."

Price's hire capped a two-week search in which New Orleans Saints assistant Mike Riley turned down the offer and Moore also courted Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer and South Florida's Jim Leavitt.

Offensive tackle Wesley Britt drove to Tuscaloosa to attend the news conference, one of only a couple of players able to make it because of the holidays.

He met with Price Wednesday and liked what he saw -- and not just because there was finally someone sitting in Bryant's old corner office.

"It was a huge burden off our back, knowing we have a coach here," Britt said. "Not only do we have a coach here, we probably have the best coach for this situation."

Moore and Price had their first contact about the job two or three days after Franchione left. They met in the late 1970s when Moore was a Bryant assistant and candidate for the Washington State coaching job. Price, then a Cougar assistant, escorted Moore -- who hadn't slept in two days because of recruiting -- around campus.

"I figured if he'd gotten more sleep, he would have gotten the job and I wouldn't be standing here today," Price said.

Alabama was banned from a bowl this season and next as part of NCAA penalties that also include heavy scholarship reductions.

The violations occurred before Franchione arrived, but he said the sanctions were a major factor in his departure for A&M. Price didn't seem too concerned.

"I checked it out thoroughly and talked to Mal about it," said Price, promising he would run a clean program. "I feel confident that we're going to be able to work things out.

"I'm not concerned about what's going to happen in the future. And I think we have enough depth and enough good players here right now. They won 10 games last year."

Moore conferred with NCAA officials before hiring Price and found he had a clean record.

"We've got a couple of tough years ahead of us," Moore said. "We needed to have someone that recognizes and understands that and will work through it as hard as they can. I think this guy will.

"I think he will bring a lot to this program and to our fans and to the people of this state. They'll love him."

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/19/02

Doba's predecessors

Records of recent WSU football coaches:

Mike Price, 1989-2002, 83-77.

Dennis Erickson, 1987-88, 12-10-1.

Jim Walden, 1978-86, 44-52-4.

Warren Powers, 1977, 7-4.

Jackie Sherrill, 1976, 3-8.

Jim Sweeney, 1968-75, 26-59-1.

Bert Clark, 1964-67, 15-24-1.

Jim Sutherland, 1956-63, 37-39-4.

Al Kircher, 1952-55, 13-25-2.

Forrest Evashevski, 1950-51, 11-6-2.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/20/02

Price dives into double duty; Coach resumes role with Cougars although he now officially works for Alabama

PULLMAN -- Mike Price plunged into his strange dual role Thursday, disembarking from a private jet owned by a University of Alabama trustee and resuming the reins of the Washington State football team.

A day after both schools had celebrated new coaching regimes, the Cougars clung to a type of status quo, conducting a relatively routine practice in their new indoor facility.

In other words, Price called the shots and Bill Doba oversaw the defense.

That's basically how the two men will approach the next 13 days, though Price will fulfill certain duties for Alabama and Doba will prepare to take the helm at Washington State.

Both coaches say their prime objective is to guide the Cougars to a win over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.

"It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning," Price said of the practice. "I didn't expect it not to be. I just got back. I didn't even get a chance to talk to the coaches. Guys were still coming up to me and congratulating me. I wasn't in a talking mood when I left (Pullman on Tuesday night)."

In a whirlwind two-day period, Price had accepted an offer by the Crimson Tide, flown to Tuscaloosa on a jet belonging to Alabama trustee Paul Bryant Jr., received an introduction to the Alabama media, visited 15 of the 18 recruits who had orally committed to the Tide, then jetted back to Pullman, arriving at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Cougars had promoted Doba from defensive coordinator to head coach, effective after the Rose Bowl.

After Wednesday's practice, somebody mentioned to Price that Alabama football coaches are so high-profile in Tuscaloosa that they can't dine at a restaurant in peace.

Price could neither confirm or deny.

"I only had a bag of peanuts and a ham sandwich yesterday," he said. "The recruiting coordinator had me running all over the place. I said, 'Geez, don't you feed your head coaches down here?' "

If Crimson Tide fans do prove fanatical, Price implied he can roll with the punches. That singlemindedness is one reason he took the job.

The son of a football coach, Price has always been mindful of Alabama's glorious tradition, symbolized by Bryant's father, the late Paul (Bear) Bryant, who retired as the winningest Division I coach ever (he now ranks third).

Last spring, ESPN television tried to persuade the Cougars to play Alabama. Athletic director Jim Sterk rejected the idea, because the WSU schedule already included 13 games at that point. For a time, though, Price was enchanted by the thought.

"Mike had this gleam in his eyes -- 'It's Alabama, and I'm a coach's son. It's Alabama,' " Sterk said.

Several months later, when the Tide needed a new coach, that gleam returned.

"Football, other than my family," is the most important thing in my life," Price said Thursday. "When you go to that state, (you see) it's the most important thing to most of the people in that state. That has a great allure to it. If you like candy and you go to a candy factory, that's pretty damn nice. That's kind of how I think of this situation."

A few WSU players have expressed surprise and some degree of resentment about Price's decision. And many Cougar fans evidently don't want him to coach in the Rose Bowl.

When Price mentioned that three potential buyers had already visited his Pullman home, he added, "I don't know if they want to burn it down or if they're looking to buy."

But he gave no indication of reconsidering his plans to participate in the Rose Bowl.

"I'm just hoping things work out the way I envision it," he said. "It could be the best coaching transition in college football. It really could be. It's by far the best thing to do. For us to pack up and leave right now -- that doesn't give these kids the best chance to win the most important game of their life."

Price said he is giving all his full-time assistants the option of joining him at Alabama, and estimated half of them will do so.

Doba, Mike Levenseller and Robb Akey are expected to stay at WSU.

Meanwhile, "It will be business as usual," Doba said. "I thought we had a great practice. Kids seemed to be fired up. They've had two days off; there were minimal mistakes."

In Price's initial discussions with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, the coach said he stated his intentions of coaching the Cougars in the Rose Bowl.

"They were really good about it," he said. "Mal Moore ... was a coach for 30 years. He has five or six national championship rings. He knows football and the relationships you have. He was all for it."

Price dismissed the possibility of a conflict of interests. He won't allow Cougar players to transfer to Alabama, or Crimson Tide coaches to recruit in the state of Washington. He said he will contact recruits who have committed to WSU and dissuade them from changing their minds.

He admitted his attention will be divided in the next two weeks. He needs to select an Alabama coaching staff and may be required occasionally to return to the South. By private jet, Price said it's a 3 1/2-hour trip. He doesn't intend to miss any Cougar practices.

"I'm probably not going to enjoy the Rose Bowl as much as I would have -- the social activities," he said. And yet:

"It's the most important thing in my life that we win this Rose Bowl," he said.

Cougfan.com - 12/20/02

Posted Dec 20, 2002

Fatal attraction?
By lionizing Bear Bryant, Mike Price reveals his ignorance of fabled Alabama coach's other legacy

By JOE CLINE
CF.C Guest Columnist

MIKE PRICE'S bad case of mid-life coaching crisis has crushed the Cougar Nation, but perhaps more puzzling is that he's done it by casting his lot with a program whose "rich history" he's so enamored with is more a testament to narrow mindedness than football greatness.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/22/02

Tribune/Steve Hanks
Bill Doba, WSU's recently promoted head coach, addresses a crowd of several hundred that gathered at Bohler Gym on Saturday to see cougars depart for the Rose Bowl by way of two-night stay in Coeur d'Alene.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/23/02

Price entering whole new world

Alabama hired an excellent football coach last week. But there's a question: Is Mike Price a good fit in his new job?

Price basically toiled in anonymity for 14 seasons at Washington State; before that, he was coach at Division I-AA Weber State for eight seasons. Since becoming a graduate assistant in 1969, he has spent all but three seasons in his coaching career on the West Coast. Believe it or not, this season was the first time in his tenure with the Cougars that he has had back-to-back winning seasons. But when he has had the talent -- and it's mighty tough to get high-level players to head to Pullman -- he has won.

He won't have a problem getting talent at Alabama, even with the Tide on probation. Price's offensive attack will be the most wide-open in the SEC, even if offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller is staying at Washington State. For the first time, Alabama should be able to recruit any offensive skill-position player it wants from anywhere in the Southeast; after all, playing for Price ain't going to be like playing for Gene Stallings, Mike DuBose or Dennis Franchione, coaches who -- all things being equal -- would rather run the ball.

But let's just say Tide fans are a little more demanding than Washington State's. With the Cougars, an 8-3 record was a big success. At Alabama, that means a trip to something like the Peach Bowl and that won't sit all that well with Tide fans. One losing season would have Alabama fans up in arms, and back-to-back losing seasons -- which happened four times to Price with the Cougars -- would mean a full-fledged revolt.

Still, given the talent level he is going to have to work with, Price shouldn't have a losing season at Alabama. What's going to change, though, is the expectation level. And while Price can say he has been a head coach for 22 years and understands expectations and understands what it means to play in a tough conference and understands what it means to have an archrival, until he has lived it at Alabama, he really has no idea what he has gotten himself into.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/24/02

Price issue behind them, Cougs insist; Kegel says that players want departing coach to lead them against Sooners

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The Washington State Cougars arrived in Los Angeles and resumed preparation for the Rose Bowl on Monday, claiming their emotional road bumps are behind them.

The Cougars staged a walk-through practice at L.A. Memorial Coliseum, where they will conduct all their workouts prior to their New Year's Day clash with Oklahoma at Pasadena.

Then they proceeded to their elegant Beverly Hills hotel, receiving a brief reception from Tournament of Roses Queen Alexandra Wucetich and Rose Bowl officials.

Cougars coach Mike Price said the Cougars benefited from their weekend hiatus at the Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"It was a great, great time," he said. "It was relaxing and the kids bonded together."

Price himself had disrupted the team's emotional climate last week with his abrupt resignation, effective after the Rose Bowl, so that he could accept the the head-coaching job at Alabama.

Backup quarterback Matt Kegel said players have come to terms with their coach's decision.

"We're over it," he said. "It's a good move for coach Price. People can say what they want to, but we all know that if any one of us had been in his shoes, we'd take that job too. He's accomplished about everything he can do at Washington State."

Players began to calm down, he said, when they fully realized that defensive coordinator Bill Doba was being promoted to replace Price and offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller was retaining his position.

"We've got a great coach coming in, coach Doba," said Kegel, the projected starter at quarterback next season. "And Levy's staying, and he's the mastermind of our offense. So nothing's going to change for Cougar football. It's just that Mr. Football, Mr. Washington State, is gone.

"It's hard to see him go, because he was a father figure to all of us and such a great leader. We're all proud of him and know he's going to be very successful at Alabama."

Washington State's plan of retaining Price as head coach through the Rose Bowl had spurred controversy, but Kegel said only "about three" players had wanted the coach to forgo this game. They have since accepted the idea of his staying, he said.

"He's given his heart and soul to this program for 20 years," Kegel said, referring to Price's stints as WSU player and coach. "So anyone who says that is out of their element.

"Everyone wants him to coach. Everything's back to normal. We're going to win this game, and coach Price will go on with his coaching career. The only thing about life that we really know is that it's going to change. Nothing stays the same."

Lewiston Tribune Online 12/31/02

Tribune/Steve Hanks
When speaking to the media this week, Mike Price and his WSU players have tried to avoid discussing the coach's post-Rose Bowl jump to Alabama. But only Wednesday's game with Oklahoma will show the true effect of that move.

Ignoring the coming Tide; Led by Price, WSU was fueled by adversity all season; now the coach's departure is the crisis

LOS ANGELES -- Washington State has overcome distractions so many times this season that maybe it's time we dismiss that phrase as inaccurate. The Cougars don't overcome distractions. They feed off them.

They use them in the same way newspaper writers use deadline pressure -- as a stimulus, an imperative, a means of warding off complacency.

Now, heading into their weightiest game of the season, the Cougars confront their weightiest distraction: the imminent departure of coach Mike Price, who accepted a job at the University of Alabama two weeks ago and is using the Rose Bowl as his Washington State swan song. The Cougars play Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Pasadena.

By all accounts, WSU players have moved beyond the most extreme of their emotional responses to Price's news. For days after the announcement, according to cornerback Jason David, some players refused to greet the coach when they passed him in the hallway.

"Those people need to realize this is a business," David said. "I don't think that was fair to coach Price, because he has been there for a lot of players."

In recent days, team members have repeatedly said they endorse the school's unusual plan to retain Price at the Cougar helm through the bowl game, rather than hand the reins to defensive coordinator Bill Doba, who will be promoted to head coach when Price does leave. Keeping the staff intact is the most efficient option, they say.

The Cougars' practices at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum the past week have indeed shown few signs of awkwardness. Although Price initially said he might do some juggling during this L.A. preparation period -- make quick trips by jet on Alabama business -- he now says he has done nothing for the Crimson Tide but phone one quarterback recruit. He had already visited 12 Alabama recruits during his visit to Tuscaloosa, Ala., when accepting the job.

"I haven't missed a practice, I haven't missed a meeting," he said Monday about the Cougars' L.A. sessions. "We talk to players about finishing -- finishing the season, finishing a play. I have to finish out my responsibility to this team."

To that end, he is trying to avoid personal sentiment as he faces the final of his 161 games as Cougar head coach, and prepares to part ways with longtime collaborators like Doba and offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller.

"I'm not going to allow myself to have feelings about it -- not right now," Price said. "I can't look at Levenseller in the face without crying."

Cougars receiver Mike Bush draws a distinction between Price's departure and the other distractions this team has faced, partly because players have come to understand the allure of the Alabama job to a long-struggling 56-year-old coach.

"We're losing a family member, but it's what he needs to succeed in life and to feel like he's reached all his goals -- to go there and win games and be at the top of his profession," Bush said. "If it happened the week of the game, it would be a bigger thing. It would be harder to come back. It happened so long ago that we accept it and have gotten past it. We're mentally and physically ready for this game."

Yet the issue remains: Football is a game of extreme and complicated emotions, and there's no way to predict how a team will respond on game day to a lame-duck coach, whose customary plea for team unity can't help but adopt a hollow tone.

The Cougars' major distractions have been well-documented: the dislocated rib to quarterback Jason Gesser; the locker-room fracas that sidelined David with a cheekbone injury and linebacker Ira Davis with a disciplinary suspension; finally the high ankle sprain that threatened to sideline Gesser for the Cougars' most important game of the regular season.

Each of those incidents was followed by a rousing Pac-10 Conference victory.

"It's almost like we play better when we have adversity," place-kicker Drew Dunning said.

It's as if the team were manufacturing the sort of a battle cry that once came naturally with the program's low national profile. After landing a No. 11 ranking in the preseason, the Cougars could no longer sing bitterly about a lack of respect.

"We've always been underdogs," Bush said. "These things (the distractions) give people the mind set that, 'Nobody's thinking you're going to win, because this is happening.' And we just battle back from it."

Injuries at other positions over the course of the season prompted the Cougars to start 39 players in the 22 offensive and defensive slots, and the list includes five freshmen.

Consider also the Cougars' sangfroid in foreign environments. In road games, they are 4-1 this season and 12-4 since Gesser became starting quarterback late in 1999.

"It's the most competitive team I've ever coached," Price said a few weeks ago, "and the most resilient team I've ever coached."

According to Dunning and other players, Price can take much of the credit for this resiliency. Few coaches pay closer attention to their teams' psychological well-being, and during his 14-year tenure as WSU coach he has learned to apply the right emotional shading to his locker-room speeches. Known early in his career for his ability to rouse, he has since developed an ability to comfort.

That's evidently the tack he has taken in the wake of these 2002 road bumps.

"The coaches definitely make us aware of whatever the issue is, what the options are for the team and the individual, and they bring a sense of calmness to the team," Dunning said. "Coach Price has always done that with us.

"With some of the incidents this year, he has addressed the team, told us exactly what's happened. We've been able to talk with him and other coaches freely, openly, to get our emotions out. That's definitely the angle coach Price has taken with any adversity we've had."

The question then becomes this:

Will such an approach work when Price himself is the source of the adversity?

Lewiston Tribune Online 01/03/03

Four WSU aides officially hired by Crimson Tide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- New Alabama head coach Mike Price will bring four assistants from Washington State, including his son.

Price and the assistants wrapped up their Washington State duties with a Rose Bowl appearance Wednesday.

Joining Price on the Alabama coaching staff are Aaron Price, Bob Connelly, Kasey Dunn and Chris Ball.

Aaron Price was born in Pullman and graduated from Washington State. His wife is a fifth-generation Washington State graduate and they have relatives in Pullman, but they decided to make the move to Tuscaloosa.

"It tears part of your heart out," Aaron Price told The Birmingham News. "But it's an experience you have to take. This opportunity came up and it's a chance of a lifetime and a dream of mine."

Mike Price's youngest son will be handling the kickers, punters and quarterbacks like he did at Washington State.

Connelly, the offensive line coach, is a Texas native who understands the passion for football in the South and is looking forward to getting closer to his childhood home.

"I live, sleep and eat football," Connelly said. "I'm looking forward to getting down there and being around people with the same commonalities."

Dunn, the assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and running backs coach, was an accomplished two-time All-American wide receiver at Idaho and spent all of his coaching career in the western part of the United States.

Ball, the secondary coach, is a Missouri native who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Mike Price.

Ball said the assistants know the pressure will be on them to produce at Alabama.

"When you get into college football, that's what you want. You want to get into a situation where you need to win football games," he said.

Cougfan.com - Posted May 4, 2003

The Dichotomy of Mike Price
Fallen coach a case study in contrast

By JOHN C. WITTER
Cougfan.com Senior Editor

HIS SUPPORTERS ARE legion; his detractors, well, they’ve recently grown pretty large in numbers, too. And, in many respects, these opposite factions perfectly represent the dichotomous life of Mike Price.

Let’s start with the obvious: Images of him sharing a hotel room with a woman other than his wife - - let alone rolling bills at a strip club - - were initially and instantly dismissed in these parts because it was the antithesis of the man we’d affectionately dubbed “Saint Mike.”

From the Southbend Tribune

May 4, 2003

Mike Price washes out with 'Tide By JOHN ZENOR Associated Press Writer Price   TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Mike Price was fired by Alabama without coaching a single game because of behavior including a night at a topless bar -- another embarrassment for a once-proud football team. University president Robert Witt said Saturday that Price failed to live his "personal and professional life in a manner consistent with university policies." Price, hired away from Washington State in December, lost his job because of his conduct on a trip to Florida last month for a pro-am golf tournament. Witt disclosed for the first time that Price was warned before that trip about his public behavior. "To the university and the entire 'Bama Nation, I admit making mistakes and at times inappropriate behavior, but I also ask for your forgiveness," Price said. He isn't the only college coach whose conduct away from games has been under scrutiny. Iowa State men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy was suspended last week for being photographed at a student party after an away game. The school's athletic director recommended that Eustachy be fired. Alabama has won six national football championships, but it can't seem to keep a coach lately and is under NCAA probation. Reports emerged during the week that Price spent hundreds of dollars at a topless bar and, the next morning, a woman ordered about $1,000 of room service and charged it to his hotel bill. The 57-year-old Price, who hired two sons for his Alabama coaching staff, and his wife attended a public session with university trustees Saturday. He then had a private meeting with Witt. After Witt announced the firing, a tearful Price said: "I apologize to my wife, the team and my coaches. I will learn from this." He said he asked Witt for a second chance, but the president declined. Witt called Price "a great coach, a good man," but the president added that Price failed to live up to responsibilities that come with the job of head coach at Alabama. Before trustees went behind closed doors, pleas were made to retain Price. "Everybody makes mistakes," quarterback Brodie Croyle said. "You can rest assured it won't happen again." Prices' sons spoke on his behalf. "In his 57 years, there's been one moment in his life he didn't act appropriately," Aaron Price said. Witt said he regretted the "period of uncertainty" for Alabama players who now must wait to see who their new coach will be. The previous coach, Dennis Franchione, left abruptly after last season for Texas A&M. The football team's probation stems from rules violations under coach Mike DuBose, who was forced out in 2000 during a 3-8 season. Price led Washington State to consecutive 10-win seasons and a Rose Bowl berth last season. He was to have been Alabama's sixth head coach since Bear Bryant retired after the 1981 season. The late Bryant set the standard -- and lofty expectations -- for all future Alabama football coaches, winning five AP national championships and establishing a since-broken record for Division I victories. The only other Alabama coach to win a national title was Gene Stallings in 1992. With Price clearly in trouble this week, and the program in turmoil, there has been talk among Alabama fans that Stallings might be called on to take over on an interim basis. Price agreed to a seven-year contract worth $10 million with Alabama but never signed it. The deal had a clause saying he could be fired for any behavior "that brings (the) employee into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, or ridicule or that reflects unfavorably upon the reputation or the high moral or ethical standards of the University." When Price was hired by Alabama, he immediately showed deference to Bryant's legacy. "I want to be the second-best coach in the history of Alabama football," Price said then. "If I could do that, I think that would be wonderful. It probably isn't going to be done the way Papa did it, the way Coach Bryant did it. It's going to be the way I do it. To walk on the same sidelines that he walked is a huge honor." Price never got the chance.

Tribune/Steve Hanks
Mike Price has had to ponder many tough questions since he left Washington State following the Cougars' Rose Bowl appearance for the coaching position at Alabama. Price was fired in May and has spent much of the time since in the Lake Coeur d'Alene vacation home of Ryan Leaf, one of his most renowned players at WSU.

Awaiting that next chance; Mike Price is eager to get back to the business of football after coping with the fallout from his infamous experience at Alabama

Mike Price, in one of his few extensive interviews since the scandal at Alabama, said he has overcome bouts with depression stemming from his firing and is eager to resume coaching football next season -- ideally at the University of Arizona.

"Right now, the best fit would have been Arizona," Price said in an interview near Coeur d'Alene, where he is temporarily living in the lakefront vacation home of Ryan Leaf, his former Washington State quarterback. "My chances are probably like Jim Carrey's in 'Dumb and Dumber' -- a million-to-one.

"But if I accepted 'no' for an answer, I wouldn't have recruited anyone who came to Washington State, and I wouldn't have got the Washington State job. I had applied two times before I got the job."

In the immediate aftermath of the firing of John Mackovic at midseason, Arizona school president Pete Likins stated adamantly that Price would not be considered for the Wildcat job. Price said he is hopeful Likins' opinion of him might be altered by recent disclosures that contradict some previous reports of alleged inappropriate behavior by Price at Alabama.

Price is a close friend and former junior college teammate of Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood, who was AD at Washington State when he hired Price as head coach in 1989. Price said he has not talked to Livengood since Likins' remarks became public.

"I don't want to put Jim on the spot," said Price, adding, "He knows where I live and how to get hold of me."

Price continues to maintain he did nothing worthy of being fired at Alabama. Price said he believes a fine and/or suspension would have been reasonable.

Price said his only significant mistakes during his brief stint at Alabama stemmed from drinking far too much alcohol one night in Pensacola, Fla. He permitted a server at a strip club (the last of four bars he visited that night with assistant head coach Kasey Dunn, Price said) to help him to his room after she surprised him by following him into his cab. Then, for reasons Price says he cannot recall, the woman apparently spent the night in his room.

The server and Price, who has been married to his childhood sweetheart for 37 years, said they did not have sex, but fell asleep on a hotel bed and awoke fully clothed.

The woman ran up a $1,000 room service bill (Price left in the morning to play in a golf tournament). Price, who said he does not have a drinking problem, said he remembers few details after leaving the strip club.

"Even though we didn't do anything (sexually), having a woman in my room, that's not right," Price said.

Price's $20 million lawsuit against the university was dismissed in an Alabama court, but he said an appeal will be filed in Georgia. Price said he expects to go to court next year for his $20 million lawsuit regarding a Sports Illustrated article on the Alabama scandal. Author Don Yaeger, who is named in the suit, has been accused of questionable ethics and reporting in the past.

Price, who grew up a Cougar fan in Everett, played for the Cougars and twice served as an assistant coach at WSU before his 14-year stint as head coach, said he refuses to second-guess himself for taking the Alabama job.

"I'd be a Monday morning quarterback," he said with a smile. "I'm a coach. Coaches don't Monday morning quarterback."

Price said he never signed his seven-year, $10 million contract at Alabama -- bonuses and extensions could have produced even more money -- "because there was a real large buyout (if he tried to leave early). They were afraid I would leave."

Price refused to say how much the Crimson Tide wanted for the buyout.

"It was a lot more than anyone else in the country," he said. "I was shocked when I saw it. I was ready to cave in, anyway."

First, however, Price was fired after arriving at Alabama with a spotless reputation built during 34 years of coaching, all at the collegiate level.

Price and his wife, Joyce, had been splitting time between Coeur d'Alene and Tuscaloosa before selling their luxurious home for what Price termed a "real big" discount last week.

Price said he has attended all WSU home games this season and is delighted the eighth-ranked Cougars are enjoying so much success under his hand-picked successor, former defensive coordinator Bill Doba. Price and Doba are close friends.

The scandal also cost Price's sons, Aaron and Eric, and Dunn their jobs as Alabama assistant coaches. Dunn has landed an interim assistant's job at Texas Christian while Aaron and Eric remain in Tuscaloosa and hope to coach next year.

The elder Price said his sons won't necessarily join him if he lands another coaching position. Price said he will seek NCAA Division I-A head coaching jobs -- he has already applied at Arizona, Duke and Army -- and may apply for assistant's jobs in the NFL or head coaching positions in the Canadian Football League.

"I will be the perfect employee," Price promised.

Price said he required counseling and antidepressants for a time after he was fired at Alabama, but now is "doing good. I'm upbeat."

Price said he is "so grateful, so thankful" for support he has received in the form of phone calls, letters, cards, emails, etc. "from all over the country" from friends, fans, coaches and players.

Even more important, Price said, has been the love and support shown by his wife and three grown children.

"My wife has been so supportive, and my kids have been so supportive," Price said. "Our family has grown closer together from this. It's ironic how something bad like this brings you closer together.

"And another thing: It's hard at my age, 57, to feel sorry for yourself when you know friends' wives who have cancer, or friends who coach who have prostate cancer or something.

"No one needs to shed any tears for me. If my wife got sick, that would be the worst thing."

Apple Cup
Rough beginnings: Scandal forces Price to start all over again

By Bud Withers
Seattle Times staff reporter

	DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mike Price, right , shakes hands with Washington coach Rick Neuheisel after Washington's State's 2001 loss in the Apple Cup. Price was fired in May before ever coaching a game for Alabama, and Neuheisel was fired in July.

The counselor who was treating him for depression said he needed to get out more.

"Go to the grocery store," he said. "Run errands for your wife. Look them in the eye. Seventy-five percent of the people have done worse things than you've done."

So Mike Price went to the grocery store. In the checkout line, blaring back at him, was his mug shot and headlines with sordid details of his misdeeds on an April night in Pensacola, Fla.

"Huge, blowup pictures," Price says. "I'm thinking, 'Easy for my counselor to say.' "

A year ago today, he was deep in preparation for another Apple Cup against Rick Neuheisel's Washington team. Today, like Neuheisel, his mission is to rebuild his name, brick by brick, against the typhoon of bad publicity he generated.

He has talked to Neuheisel.

"We've played phone tag a little bit," Price says. "You know, we've got something in common. It's kind of put us in a club we didn't want to be in."

Price was fired in May from the Alabama job he took five months earlier. The night at a Pensacola strip club plunged him into a personal and professional crisis, and, against his nature, turned him inward. For a long time, he wouldn't talk about recovery. He was incommunicado.

Now he's on the offensive. Price has sued Sports Illustrated for $20 million, alleging serious breaches of fact in the story it ran on his indiscretions. He and his attorney leaked depositions to the Spokane Spokesman-Review that revealed inconsistencies in the stories told by witnesses to SI and later in sworn testimony.

Price is campaigning openly for the Arizona job, even as Peter Likins, the president, said weeks ago Price would never be a part of the search. Price has been to all the Washington State home games, but only at the UCLA game did he make his presence known, shaking hands with writers he knew in the press box.

He's out, aggressive, zealously trying to return to the only life he has known.

Says Price, "I'm just waiting for one president to say, 'Let's give that guy a chance. He's a good guy, he's not a bad person, and he can get it done.' "

He finally sold his house in Tuscaloosa, taking a significant loss. For now, he lives with his wife Joyce at his old favorite haunt, Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, except it's in the home of his former quarterback, Ryan Leaf.

Price says he lost 40 pounds after his dismissal. He has gained 10 of it back.

He and Leaf walked into a lounge aside the lake last week and watched "Monday Night Football." Watched "Monday Night Football" leisurely for the first time in ... for the first time. The show began 33 years ago.

Price rises early and watches video of games he has taped, 10 or 12 of them over each weekend, so he can stay current.

"I watched the Arizona game this morning," he said one night last week, referring to Washington's upset loss. "I feel so bad for Gilby (UW coach Keith Gilbertson)."

ELAINE THOMPSON / AP Price, right, walks off the field with Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf after losing the 1998 Rose Bowl. Price and his wife now are guests at Leaf's home at Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

He hears from people. On this day, Phil Knight, the Nike guru, called him. Dennis Erickson, his old Everett chum who now coaches the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, calls once a week. Price says people have been wonderful to him. It took his biggest personal catastrophe to make him realize how much people cared for him.

"I think we've come together as a family, even closer, if it was possible," says Price, who was always close to his wife and three children. "Joyce — I'm so lucky to have her."

There were so many levels of hurt, so many scions of his night gone bad. Joyce. His sons, Eric and Aaron, whom he hired to his staff at Alabama, and who were relieved of their positions with pay. Other assistants he brought, who could be vulnerable after a difficult first season for Crimson Tide coach Mike Shula. Their families.

"That's hard to deal with, man, for anybody," Price says.

Price's sons went together and bought a motor home. They've toured games and professional and college practices, wanting to stay engaged and visible with the coaching fraternity. Clearly, they would rejoin their father if he gets a head-coaching job, but they need to have other options.

"They learned how to tailgate," Price says wryly.

It could be worse, he reminds himself. Nobody has cancer. He didn't break the law. And he maintains staunchly he didn't commit adultery.

	JEREMY BALES / AP Mike Price enters a news conference before being fired as Alabama's football coach in May. Price is actively searching for another head-coaching job.

"It was grim," he says. "When I was going through it, I thought it was a horrible thing. But my family is healthy. We love each other. I've got a lot to be thankful for."

Aside from his fateful night, he made one other killer mistake at Alabama. Like a lot of coaches who get hired, he didn't sign a contract quickly.

"There was a buyout clause that was a huge amount," he explained. "I was trying to negotiate that down. They'd been hurt by (Dennis) Franchione. It was just unprecedented. Nobody in the history of the NCAA had ever had that large a buyout. They wouldn't budge on it, and I wouldn't budge. What if I got tired, or Joyce got sick?

"That was all it was. Finally, it wore us down. Joyce and I got to the point where we were going to sign it."

Maybe it was bad karma that the Alabama job ever beckoned. He was always more of a small-school guy, plumbing the back roads for recruits, out of the limelight. Maybe he should never have left WSU.

"I'm not gonna do that," he says. "That's Monday morning quarterbacking. That's for you guys and fans to do. I gave up a lot, and it didn't work out."

He knows exactly how much he gave up, and it comes back to him when he watches the Cougars plowing through a third straight successful season. And he knows he's 57, and the clock is ticking on his career.

"It's like there's a hole in your heart," said Price.

He's regained part of his life. Maybe if he can retrieve the other part, Mike Price will become whole again.

---

Lewiston Tribune Online - 12/2/03

UTEP hoists Price back into saddle; Miners give former Washington State coach a chance to resurrect his career

Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas -- Mike Price has been waiting seven months to try to rebuild his coaching career. Texas-El Paso is happy to give him a chance.

The Miners hired Price on Sunday despite a reputation tarnished by a night of partying at a strip club months after being hired at Alabama. The longtime Washington State coach never coached a game for the Crimson Tide and has been trying to clear his image ever since.

"I feel reborn," Price said. "When something you love has been taken away it really hurts. It hurt me so much that now I know that coaching was my true calling."

Price, who maintains that the events that led to his departure were reported inaccurately, vows to be on his best behavior.

"A lot has happened to me since last April," Price said. "I will continue to try to clear my name, but I can assure that such a mistake will never again happen to Mike Price."

UTEP athletic director Bob Stull cited a relationship with Price that dates more than 20 years as part of his reason for giving him this opportunity. His coaching credentials made him a strong candidate to lead a team that's long been an also-ran in the Western Athletic Conference. The Miners have gone 14-34 the last four seasons under Gary Nord, who was fired Dec. 1.

Price turned Washington State into a Pac-10 title contender in his 14 seasons in Pullman, going 83-77 and leading the Cougars to five bowl games. Among his protDegDes were quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf.

"We know Mike Price is a man who has been humbled by a highly public mistake," school president Diana Natalicio said. "He paid dearly for that grievous error in judgment, and all of us believe he has earned the opportunity to restart his career."

The hiring is similar to what Texas Tech did three years ago when it gave the volatile Bob Knight a chance to rebuild his career and its struggling men's basketball program.

George O'Leary was hired Dec. 8 to coach Central Florida, giving him another chance in college football two years after Notre Dame forced him to resign because he lied on his resume.

"I've always viewed him as not only a tremendous coach, but a great person and an outstanding representative of college football," Stull said of Price. "He has done a remarkable job of turning around programs and building nationally-ranked teams."

Price, a surprise choice to replace Dennis Franchione at Alabama after the 2002 season, got in trouble in April when he went to a topless bar after attending a golf tournament in Florida. Alabama president Robert Witt fired Price after he admitted drinking heavily and visiting the strip club.

Price sued the school for $20 million over his firing, but a judge threw out the lawsuit, noting that the fact Price never signed his seven-year, $10 million contract prevented him from claiming he was defrauded.

Price said Sunday he'd yet to sign his deal with UTEP, saying it wouldn't be finalized for several weeks.

The coach also filed a $20 million lawsuit against Time Inc., charging that he was libeled and slandered by a story in Sports Illustrated (owned by Time) detailing his actions the night he visited the strip club.

Price, who also coached Weber State for eight seasons, has a career record of 129-121.

Nord, a former Western Athletic Coach of the year, led the Miners to a share of the WAC title and the Humanitarian Bowl in 2000. It was the Miners' first league trophy in 44 years and the team's first bowl appearance since 1988, when Stull was coach.

But the Miners won only two games the next three seasons. Stull said the fact the Miners had beaten only three Division I-A teams during that span showed the program was not headed in the right direction.

Price, who was interested in the Arizona job but found that the school wasn't interested in him, said his UTEP teams would "concentrate on defense first, then special teams and then the offense."

He also praised the school's facilities, saying they would be a big help in recruiting.

"My father always told me if you go someplace where you're wanted and needed, you'll always have a better chance of success," he said.