Mike Price
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other persons of the same name, see Michael Price (disambiguation)
| Mike Price | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Title | Head Coach | |
| College | UTEP | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Team record | 25-23 | |
| Born | April 6, 1946 | |
| Place of birth |  Denver, CO |
|
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 154-145 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Awards | ||
| 1997 National Coach of the Year | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1965-66 1967-68 |
Washington State Puget Sound |
|
| Position | QB / DB | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1981-1988 1989-2002 2003 2004-present |
Weber State Washington State Alabama (no games) UTEP |
|
Mike Price (born April 6, 1946 in Denver, Colorado) is a college 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 |
[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 finally at the University of Puget Sound, where he co-captained the football team and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. [1]
Price met his wife, the former Joyce Taylor, in kindergarten in the early 1950s. They were married when they were 19 and have three children: two sons (who are his assistant coaches) and a daughter.
[edit] Head coaching career
[edit] Weber State
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 was head coach at Weber State University from 1981-88, compiling a 46-44 record in eight seasons.
[edit] Washington State
On the field, Price was noted for his successful head coaching work at Washington State, where he served for fourteen seasons, from 1989-2002. At WSU, he compiled a record of 83-78, 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). Price's 2002 team compiled a 7-1 mark in the conference before losing to Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl by a score 34-14. After he announced that he would take the Alabama job, Price was replaced by long time assistant Bill Doba for the Cougars' final game of the season.
In 1997, Price was named National Coach of the Year.
[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.[2] 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, purportedly $12 million.[3]; 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.[4]
[edit] UTEP
On December 21, 2003, UTEP announced the hiring of Price as its new coach.[5]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.
[edit] Coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Rank# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weber State Wildcats (Big Sky Conference) (1981 – 1988) | |||||||||
| 1981 | Weber State | 7-4 | 4-3 | 4-T | |||||
| 1982 | Weber State | 4-7 | 2-5 | 7 | |||||
| 1983 | Weber State | 6-5 | 4-3 | 5-T | |||||
| 1984 | Weber State | 5-6 | 3-4 | 6 | |||||
| 1985 | Weber State | 6-5 | 4-3 | 4 | |||||
| 1986 | Weber State | 3-8 | 2-5 | 6-T | |||||
| 1987 | Weber State | 10-3 | 6-1 | 2 | L Division I-AA Quarterfinal | ||||
| 1988 | Weber State | 5-6 | 3-4 | 4-T | |||||
| Weber State: | 46-44 | 28-28 | |||||||
| Washington State Cougars (Pacific Ten Conference) (1989 – 2002) | |||||||||
| 1989 | Washington State | 6-5 | 3-5 | 8 | |||||
| 1990 | Washington State | 3-8 | 2-6 | 9 | |||||
| 1991 | Washington State | 4-7 | 3-5 | 6-T | |||||
| 1992 | Washington State | 9-3 | 5-3 | 3-T | W Copper | 15 | |||
| 1993 | Washington State | 5-6 | 3-5 | 7 | |||||
| 1994 | Washington State | 8-4 | 5-3 | 4 | W Alamo | 21 | |||
| 1995 | Washington State | 3-8 | 2-6 | 8-T | |||||
| 1996 | Washington State | 5-6 | 3-5 | 8-T | |||||
| 1997 | Washington State | 10-2 | 7-1 | 1-T | L Rose | 9 | |||
| 1998 | Washington State | 3-8 | 0-8 | 10 | |||||
| 1999 | Washington State | 3-9 | 1-7 | 10 | |||||
| 2000 | Washington State | 4-7 | 2-6 | 8-T | |||||
| 2001 | Washington State | 10-2 | 6-2 | 2-T | W Sun | 10 | |||
| 2002 | Washington State | 10-3 | 7-1 | 1-T | L Rose | 10 | |||
| Washington State: | 83-78 | 49-63 | |||||||
| UTEP Miners (Western Athletic Conference) (2004) | |||||||||
| 2004 | UTEP | 8-4 | 6-2 | 2 | L Houston | ||||
| UTEP Miners (Conference USA) (2005 — present) | |||||||||
| 2005 | UTEP | 8-4 | 5-3 | 2 | L GMAC | ||||
| 2006 | UTEP | 5-7 | 3-5 | 5 | |||||
| 2007 | UTEP | 4-8 | 2-6 | 5 | |||||
| UTEP: | 25-23 | 16-16 | |||||||
| Total: | 154-145 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. °Rankings from final AP Poll of the season. |
|||||||||
[edit] References
"Out of Everett," 'The Seattle Times' Pacific Magazine, Sunday, August 13, 1995, p.12-17.
- ^ University of Puget Sound Yearbook, 1969
- ^ 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.
- ^ Caldwell, Alicia A.. "Publisher settles defamation suit by ex-WSU coach Price", Associated Press, October 10, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ Smith, Michael David (August 22, 2005). Troubled Franchise. TNR Online. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
- ^ Price gets second chance at struggling UTEP. Sports Illustrated (December 21, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
[edit] External links
- UTEP Athletics.com - official site - Mike Price biography
- KVIA-TV - Mike Price biography
- ESPN.com - Price fired by University of Alabama - 03-May-2003
- Allsports.com - UTEP hires Mike Price
- USA Today.com - Coaching agrees with Mike Price - 08-Nov-2004
- Yahoo.com - Wednesday Rap with Mike Price - 14-Nov-2007
| 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 |
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||
