Mike Price

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Mike Price

Image:Mikeprice.jpg
Date of birth	1946
Sport	Football
College	UTEP
Title	Head Coach
Record with Team	16-8
Overall Record	145-130
Awards	1997 National Coach of the Year
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
School as a player
1965-66 1967-68	Washington State Puget Sound
Position	Quarterback & Defensive back
Coaching positions
1981-88 1989-2002 2002-2003 2003-Present	Weber State Washington State Alabama UTEP

Mike Price (born 1946) is an American football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He formerly coached at Washington State University, Weber State University, and the University of Alabama, where he was fired before coaching a game.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Head coaching career 2.1 Alabama 2.2 UTEP 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Early years

Price grew up in Everett, Washington, twenty five miles north of Seattle. He was the son of Walt Price, the longtime head football coach at Everett Junior College. At Everett High School, Price was a teammate of Dennis Erickson, the son of Pinky Erickson, the head coach at cross-town rival Cascade High. Everett High was coached by Bill Dunn, a next-door neighbor of the Ericksons. Dennis Erickson was a year behind Price, but took his job as starting quarterback mid-way through Price's senior year, and Price was moved to defense as a safety. The team finished 9-1. Price went on to play at Everett Junior College, Washington State, and the University of Puget Sound.

He was an assistant coach at WSU, UPS, WSU, and Missouri before landing his first head coaching position at Weber State of the Big Sky Conference in 1981, a job for which Erickson was a finalist. Erickson would return the favor by beating out Price for the Washington State job in 1987, but upon leaving just two years later would recommend Price, who got the job and then rented Erickson's Pullman home.

Price met his wife in kindergarten in the early 1950s. They have three children: two sons (who are his assistant coaches) and a daughter.

[edit] Head coaching career

On the field, Price gained notoriety for his successful head coaching work at Washington State, where he served for fourteen seasons, from 1989 to 2002. At WSU, he compiled a record of 83 wins and 78 losses, with three 10-win seasons and five bowl appearances. His last two teams at "Wazzu" combined for a 20-5 record (13-3 in the Pac-10 Conference). Price's 2002 team, compiled a Pac-10 conference 7-1 mark, before losing to Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl 34-14. In 1997, Price was named National Coach of the Year.

Before coaching at Washington State, Price was head coach at Weber State University from 1981 to 1988, with a 46-44 record.

[edit] Alabama

Price may be best known for an off-the-field incident during a very brief stint as the coach at Alabama. In December 2002, he was hired in principle to replace Dennis Franchione as the head coach at Alabama. Price coached Alabama through the 2003 spring practice, in May his contract was rescinded shortly after news reports surfaced of an incident during a trip to Pensacola, Florida, where Price was playing in a golf tournament.^[1] Price had never signed a written contract at Alabama.

A story in Sports Illustrated said that Price had been seen at a strip club "making it rain" and yelling "Roll Tide, Roll!". He allegedly later checked into a local hotel with at least one exotic dancer from the club. The magazine further alleged Price had sex with one of the strippers, a claim which Price denied, although he acknowledged being intoxicated on the evening in question. He filed a $20 million libel and defamation suit against Sports Illustrated. Price received some vindication in 2005 when the magazine settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum^[2]; the article's author, Don Yaeger, was later criticized for his heavy use of anonymous sources, for a payment made to one of those sources, and for his failure to take notes during those conversations.^[3]

[edit] UTEP

On December 21, 2003, UTEP announced the hiring of Price as its new coach. At the press conference, Price said, "I feel reborn. I think this is the right situation for me. My dad told me a long time ago if you go somewhere where you're wanted and needed, your chances for success are a lot better. I want to be here. It's a match made in heaven."^{[citation needed]} In his first season, he led the Miners to an 8-4 record and a berth in the Houston Bowl, where they lost to Colorado. The season was an astounding turnaround for the Miners, who has won only two games in each of their previous two seasons. At one time during the 2004 season, UTEP earned its first-ever ranking in the AP Poll, rising as high as 23rd. Price was a finalist for Eddie Robinson Award and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for coach of the year.

Preceded by Dennis Erickson	Washington State University Head Football Coaches 1989–2002	Succeeded by Bill Doba
Preceded by Dennis Franchione	University of Alabama Head Football Coaches 2003 (did not coach a game)	Succeeded by Mike Shula
Preceded by Gary Nord	University of Texas-El Paso Head Football Coaches 2004–Current	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Bruce Snyder	Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award winners 1997	Succeeded by Phillip Fulmer

[edit] References

"Out of Everett," 'The Seattle Times' Pacific Magazine, Sunday, August 13, 1995, p.12-17.

1. ^ Moore, Jim. "Mike Price never figured his date with Destiny would end like this", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 5, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
2. ^ Caldwell, Alicia A.. "Publisher settles defamation suit by ex-WSU coach Price", Associated Press, October 10, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
3. ^ Smith, Michael David (August 22, 2005). Troubled Franchise. TNR Online. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.

[edit] External links

• Mike Price biography at UTEP Athletics official site
• KVIA-TV: Mike Price biography
• ESPN.com: Price fired by University of Alabama
• Allsports.com: UTEP hires Mike Price