Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
coach. He was the head coach at
Weber State College
Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
History
Weber State University was founde ...
from 1981 to 1988,
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
from 1989 to 2002, and the
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
(UTEP) from 2004 to 2012. Price returned to UTEP as interim head coach for the final seven games of the 2017 season. He was hired at the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
in December 2002, but was fired before coaching a game in
2003.
Early years
Born in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, Price grew up in
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...
, north of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. 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 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 midway 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
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, and finally at
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
, where he co-captained the football team and was a member of the
Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Price met his wife, the former Joyce Taylor, in
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
in the early 1950s. They were married at age 19 and they had three children: two sons (who were his assistant coaches) and a daughter. Eric Price was their first child then Aaron Price, followed by their last kid Angela Fry
Assistant coaching career
Price started his coaching career in
1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
as a
graduate assistant
A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...
for two seasons at Washington State, then was the
offensive coordinator at his
alma mater, UPS, for three.
He returned to WSU for four seasons in
1974 as the running backs coach, where he unsuccessfully recruited future
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
hall-of-famer Ryne Sandberg
Ryne Dee Sandberg (born September 18, 1959), nicknamed "Ryno", is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies (19 ...
to play
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
. His final job as an assistant was at
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
under head coach
Warren Powers
Warren Anthony Powers (February 19, 1941 – November 2, 2021) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Washington State University in 1977, and the University of Missouri from 1978 through 1984, compiling an over ...
, where he coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers for three years, from
1978 to
1980.
Head coaching career
Weber State
Following the 1980 season, Price landed his first head coaching position at
Weber State
Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
History
Weber State University was founded ...
of the
Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...
, a job for which friend Dennis Erickson was also a finalist. Erickson would get the
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
job the next year, and returned the favor (following the
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
season) by beating out Price for the Washington State job. Upon leaving just two years later for
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, Erickson recommended Price, who got the WSU job and then rented Erickson's Pullman home. Price was at Weber State through 1988, compiling a record in eight seasons. His best year was 1987, when the Wildcats went 9–2 (6–1 in conference), and advanced to the quarterfinals of the
Division I-AA playoffs to finish at 10–3.
Washington State
On the field, Price was noted for his successful head coaching work at
Washington State
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, where he served for fourteen seasons (
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
–
2002) and compiled a record, with three ten-win seasons and five bowl appearances. His last two seasons 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 and advanced to the
Rose Bowl, where they were defeated by the
Oklahoma Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...
34–14. Five years earlier in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, Price was named National Coach of the Year, as the
Cougars
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...
returned to the
Rose Bowl after more than sixty years. During his tenure at Washington State, he mentored some of the greatest players in the school's history, including
quarterbacks
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ameri ...
Drew Bledsoe
Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...
,
Ryan Leaf
Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976) is a former American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also pl ...
, and
Jason Gesser.
Prior to his departure, Price had recently signed a five-year contract at a base salary of $600,000 per year. With incentives, his compensation exceeded $900,000 in his final season at WSU.
His original contract in 1989 was a four-year deal at $75,000 per year with unspecified television and radio revenues.
Alabama
Price may be best known nationally for an off-the-field incident during his brief stint at
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. In December 2002, he was hired in principle to replace
Dennis Franchione
Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951), also known as Coach Fran, is a retired American football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school w ...
as the head coach of the
Crimson Tide. Price was at Alabama during the
2003 spring practice, but in May his contract was rescinded shortly after news reports surfaced of Price being seen at a strip club during a trip to
Pensacola, Florida, where Price was playing in a
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
tournament, and he also had about $1,000 charged to his hotel room by an unknown woman staying in the room. This development came on the heels of an earlier reprimand for visiting campus-area bars and drinking into the early hours in
Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of ...
.
UTEP
On December 21, 2003,
Texas-El Paso announced the hiring of Price as its new head coach.
In his first season in
2004, he led the Miners to an 8–4 record and a berth in the
Houston Bowl
The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website o ...
, where they lost to
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. It was a significant turnaround for the Miners, who had won only two games in each of their previous three seasons. UTEP earned its first-ever ranking in the
AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
in 2004, rising as high as 23rd in early November. Price was a finalist for
Eddie Robinson Award
The Eddie Robinson Award is awarded annually to college football's top head coach in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). The award was established by The Sports Network, since merged into Stats Perform, ...
and the
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...
Award for coach of the year. His starting salary at UTEP in 2004 was $225,000 plus incentives.
In
2010, Price became the second coach to take UTEP to three bowl games, after
Mike Brumbelow, who led the Miners to the hometown
Sun Bowl after the
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...
,
1954, and
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
seasons.
Days before the final game of the
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
season, Price announced his retirement.
He returned as interim coach midway through the
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
season following the departure of
Sean Kugler
Sean Patrick Kugler (born August 9, 1966) is an American football coach and former run game coordinator and offensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the Uni ...
, who had resigned after the fifth game; UTEP went winless for the season.
Head coaching record
Notes
References
Additional sources
* "Out of Everett," 'The Seattle Times' ''Pacific Magazine'', Sunday, August 13, 1995, p. 12–17.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Mike
1946 births
Living people
American football defensive backs
American football quarterbacks
Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches
Missouri Tigers football coaches
Puget Sound Loggers football coaches
Puget Sound Loggers football players
UTEP Miners football coaches
Washington State Cougars football coaches
Washington State Cougars football players
Weber State Wildcats football coaches
Sportspeople from Denver
Sportspeople from Everett, Washington
Players of American football from Denver