[JeeberD]

Great, great story on Price and how El Paso is treating him so far from a Seattle paper....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smiling again, Price rises from the ashes in El Paso

EL PASO, Texas -- Entering the final approach to El Paso International Airport, you think you're about to land on the moon because there's a whole lot of nothing below.

But after arriving, you look around and see a good town with a bad rap, a perfect place for a good man with a bad rap wanting to clear his name.

Going from Washington State and Alabama to Texas-El Paso isn't a step back -- it's a giant leap for Mike Price.

He is in his office overlooking the Sun Bowl, far removed from Tuscaloosa, Ala., Pensacola, Fla., and the depressing days that followed his dismissal.

No one here talks about what Price calls "it," the strip-club incident that cost him his job at Alabama and millions of dollars while smearing his image and placing his future in doubt.

Instead, he is revered, embraced for what he has done in the past, not scorned for what he did on one night.

This is where Price has replaced the big time with the big picture, where small things mean more to him, where a greater sense of appreciation figures to make him a better coach and person.

This is where he plans to rebuild a football program and a tarnished reputation.

'It's great to get up'

The UTEP campus is in the foothills of the Franklin Mountains, high above the city.

It is similar in size to WSU with more than 18,000 students, most of whom are commuters who live off-campus. Seventy-one percent are Hispanic.

Don Haskins won an NCAA basketball championship at UTEP in 1966. Nate Archibald and Tim Hardaway played basketball here, and Bob Beamon long-jumped here.

A member of the Western Athletic Conference, UTEP is a school on the rise.

Billy Gillispie turned last year's 6-24 men's basketball team into one with more than 20 victories and an NCAA Tournament contender.

Athletic director Bob Stull, a former longtime assistant under Don James at Washington, has overseen the construction of new facilities, such as the Durham Center, where Price was settling into his new office last week.

This is a first-rate place, complete with a 10,000-square-foot strength and conditioning center that would rival any in the Pac-10.

Price, 57, is beaming. It is good to see him like this.

"It's great to get up and have goals and things you need to do rather than, 'What am I going to do today?' " he said.

His assistants are down the hall, excited as he is. It's an Apple Cup ensemble with five having WSU connections -- Jim Clark, Jeff Banks, Lawrence Livingston, and sons Aaron and Eric Price -- and three having UW connections -- Jeff Woodruff, Tim Hundley and Ikaika Malloe.

Woodruff's son is attending Franklin High, where one of the school colors is purple and its nickname is Cougars.

Price and his staff are in charge of a team that won two games each of the past three years, resulting in Gary Nord's termination as coach.

A bigger-than-life picture of his predecessor hangs on a wall at the Durham Center, and it won't come down. Four years ago, Nord won a WAC title.

"I haven't earned my stripes yet," Price said. "Striving to get to the top 25 is a worthy goal."

To make progress this year, Price will have to "coach them up." Price had only eight scholarships to work with, but his first recruiting class features two Parade All-American running backs, UCLA transfer Tyler Ebell and Marcus Thomas, who rushed for 3,573 yards and 47 touchdowns last year at Tolleson High outside of Phoenix. Thomas told Price he chose UTEP over USC.

Price also landed James Delgardo, a cornerback from Pima CC in Tucson, Ariz., and Rainier Beach.

Six-foot-six, 230-pound Jordan Palmer, Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer's "little" brother, is on campus along with UTEP's best receiver, Chris Marrow.

"When I talk to him, I get pumped up," Marrow said of his new coach. "Every time I walk into his office, I've got a smile on my face. It's a whole new feeling. I can't wait. I want to start right now.

"We've got a great coaching staff that can take us all the way. Last year we had a car without the engine. Now we've got the engine."

And it's revving up, preparing for the start of spring practice March 29 and the first game Sept. 2 at Arizona State.

The town is buzzing, not only about the basketball team's success but the hiring of Price.

'Excitement is unreal'

More than 700,000 people live here, separated by the Rio Grande from 1.7 million more in Juarez, Mexico. Many are blue-collar workers, and most are warm and friendly.

El Paso has the Class AA Diablos baseball team and the A-League Patriots soccer team, but for spectator sports, the UTEP Miners are No. 1.

"When the football team is winning, the whole town has a spring in its step," said UTEP president Diana Natalicio. "We tend to be the focal point for community pride."

If that's the case, the buttons on Maynard Haddad's UTEP shirt are bursting. Haddad and his brother, Kenneth, operate H&H Car Wash, which has been in business since 1958.

You can get your car washed while you have a Mexican lunch at their legendary diner, a joint with a few scattered tables surrounding customers at the counter.

Price drives up in his wife's Honda Accord and takes a seat on a bar stool.

He can't finish his meal without several fans stopping and thanking him for taking the job and wishing him well. They worry about him leaving before he even gets started.

They are in disbelief that a coach of his stature would come their way.

"I have never seen this town this fired up," Maynard Haddad said. "The excitement this guy has created is unreal.

"I don't want this to come across wrong, but I told him how grateful I was that he messed up. If he hadn't, we'd never have a coach like him."

Price laughed.

"This is a dream come true," Haddad said.

From Southern nightmare to Southwestern hospitality -- acceptance and adoration, highlighted by a 10-minute standing ovation when Price was introduced at the Don Haskins Center during a Miners' basketball game in late December.

It's hard to tell which is soaring higher -- football season-ticket sales or Price's morale.

Doing more with less

Natalicio said nothing. Twice. The first time when her athletic director mentioned Price as a candidate. The second when Stull said Price was his top candidate.

Natalicio's silence was not a bad sign. Initially, the UTEP president wanted to be thorough with her background checks. Then she wanted to be sure.

"My first reaction -- do we as an institution want to take on the baggage?" Natalicio said.

She received hundreds of unsolicited e-mails from across the country. All but one supported Price.

"There was an outpouring of affection for him," Natalicio said. "There was a hope that he be given an opportunity to redeem himself."

To avoid a media circus, Natalicio and Stull met with Price and the other finalist, Dick Tomey, at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

Both coaches were impressive in their interviews. Price admitted his mistake and assured Natalicio that "it" would never happen again.

In one of her many phone calls, Natalicio talked to an old colleague who was president at Texas-Arlington before leaving to take another job.

It was Robert Witt, the new president at Alabama, the man who fired Price.

Natalicio would not reveal what Witt said and even acknowledged she doesn't know what she would have done with Price if she were at Alabama.

But she knew what to do at UTEP.

"After balancing it all out, this guy has already paid a big public price," she said. "If you look at his history, nothing else pops out that is even close to the one incident.

"I saw a pretty distinguished record, so distinguished that he was hired by Alabama at a pretty fancy price.

"We're the kind of institution that tries to give people a second chance. I'm very comfortable with the decision. I don't feel at all worried about it."

There were other factors. Natalicio gave Price an edge over Tomey for doing more with less, producing winners with limited resources.

A baseball fan, Natalicio has read "Moneyball," which details decisions made by the Oakland A's within a tight budget.

"You have to be strategic and creative," she said. "You have to seize opportunities when they're presented. I saw this as a wonderful opportunity for us. We were both lucky."

After missing out on $10 million at Alabama, Price, with incentives, could earn $250,000 this year at UTEP. The size of the contract doesn't matter as much as it once did.

The chance to coach again, to coach with his sons again, to prove himself again -- those are the things that matter.

"When it's taken away, it humbles you," Stull said. "It brings it back into focus."

Added Natalicio: "If people are hungry for success, they will work hard. Mike really wants to dust himself off and be a winning coach again. If he achieves his goal, we'll achieve our goal.

"Everybody loves redemption, don't you think?"

'The truth's the truth'

At an afternoon meeting, Price and his assistants briefly discuss their concerns about players going out that evening because it's Fat Tuesday.

Evidence that he's moved on: Price laughs when the topic of strip clubs comes up and gets a kick out of a story that Livingston tells from his distant past.

Every day in the El Paso Times sports section, there are as many as 10 ads for strip clubs. One day in a coincidental occurrence, Price's picture appeared in a story that ran next to ads for the Naked Harem Boutique, Foxy's Cabaret and Exotica.

When Price got a tour of the town from Stull, they drove by a place called Prince Machiavelli's. It looked nice from the street, and Price asked about it, thinking it was a restaurant.

"Uh, Mike," Stull said, "I'm not telling you what to do, but I don't think you want to go in there."

After the meeting, Price is back in his car, pointing out sights, talking about the past and how fortunate he feels now.

Price recalls the high life, going from a suite at the Beverly Hills Wilshire with the Cougars at the Rose Bowl to a Lear jet that whisked him and his wife to Alabama.

When all of that went "poof," Price drove a motor home from Tuscaloosa to Couer d'Alene, staying at KOA Campgrounds along the way.

"Don't stop here!" Joyce would say. "It's $24! We paid $19 last night!"

A few more dollars are involved in his $20 million libel lawsuit against Time Inc. and a Sports Illustrated writer. It is in the appeals process. Price got a favorable ruling by a federal judge in December who said the magazine must reveal its unnamed sources.

There were lies told by strippers about a wild time in Price's hotel room. They have recanted their stories, and whether he gets a dime or not from Sports Illustrated, Price feels a sense of vindication from that.

"The story's the story," Aaron Price said. "The truth's the truth."

There's no point in rehashing "it" again. The truth is Price was drunk and was helped to his room by a waitress at the club, awakening with his clothes on and later getting a call about an outrageous room-service bill.

But at some point every day, he still thinks about what happened.

"Only one night, one night," Price said. "Weird."

His wife, Joyce, was mad at first. His sons said they never had time to be angry.

"The first thing we did was come together as a family," Eric Price said. "We've stood by him from day one. We wanted to help him through it. That's how a family is supposed to be."

Aaron said his dad has a different perspective. Maybe money and prestige meant a lot before -- now, coaching with his sons is more rewarding.

"He's enjoying having us around more, maybe more than he did at Alabama," Eric said. "He definitely has a different outlook. He's realizing how good he has it."

The cost of living is cheap, the average three-bedroom home selling for $90,244 four years ago. The city is clean, the crime rate low.

The weather is nice with 318 days of sunshine and less than 8 inches of rain a year.

His perks include two courtesy cars, one a Cadillac. And country club memberships at Coronado and El Paso CC, which has as a member former PGA champ Rich Beem, whose wife is a Coug.

Price just purchased a $490,000 home about 15 minutes west of campus in an area called the Upper Valley, the greenest part of greater El Paso. His house is in a development just a few miles from the Rio Grande.

At the end of this day, his dogs, Kokanee and Jessie, are there to greet him along with Eric's wife, Jody. Joyce is in Spokane, helping their daughter Angie, who is expecting to give birth soon.

The kitchen has a restaurant-size refrigerator freezer and purple cabinets that Price can't stand for reasons a Coug would understand.

"I'm getting rid of that," Price said.

Out back, there's a swimming pool with a slide, a hot tub, a barbecue pit, and a new patio under construction.

Although Price is wearing his orange UTEP golf shirt embroidered with a Coeur d'Alene Resort logo, he still has crimson and gray in his walk-in closet. "But I don't have any of that other stuff," he said, referring to Alabama.

"It" is behind him now. As he drives a visitor back to his rental car near campus, Price said he's thrilled to be a Miner and wants to "pick, pick, pick until we find a gold mine."

In many ways, he already has.