Price Contributes Food For Thought WSU Coach Says Gophers’ A.D. Was Merely Seeking Information

Washington State football coach Mike Price, speaking publicly Friday for the first time since becoming a candidate for the Minnesota job, downplayed his well-publicized dinner conversation with the Gophers’ athletic director and said he is focusing on recruiting.

“All the discussions were preliminary discussions and that’s where it is right now,” said Price, reached by telephone at his Pullman residence. “They contacted me. I haven’t met with the search committee.

“It wasn’t an interview situation. It was more of a ‘What do you think we need to do here? How did you recruit this guy? What kind of defense?’ It was almost like a consultant type of situation.”

The Price rumors began Tuesday morning, when a story in the Boston Globe mentioned the eighth-year WSU coach as a candidate for the Boston College job. The rumors intensified that evening, when a television reporter spotted Price and Minnesota athletic director Mark Dienhart having dinner in the Twin Cities.

Friday afternoon, Price addressed both situations.

“One of the (BC) alums has been on me and on me to apply for that job, you know, and wants me to take that job real, real bad,” Price explained. “So the guy who covers them for the Boston Globe has been calling me … I called him back and I said I wasn’t a candidate for the job and I wasn’t interested in the job - no one has contacted me.

“I’m not applying, I’m not asking to contact them, they’re not calling me and Drew (Bledsoe, ex-WSU star and current New England Patriots quarterback) is not trying to get the job for me or anything like that.

“So shoot, I’m going to be named the guy the next day then (in the Globe article). Hello? I don’t know how that can happen.”

The Minnesota situation appears more substantial.

Price said he was recruiting Monday in Utah when Dienhart, after receiving permission from WSU athletic director Rick Dickson, called to arrange a meeting. Price was flattered - Minnesota, after all, is reportedly willing to pay its next coach between $700,000 and $1 million per season. (WSU pays Price $110,000 annually in base salary.)

Moments after Dienhart’s call, Price was booked on Tuesday morning’s 5 o’clock flight from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis.

Then came dinner, and all hell broke loose.

“I’m trying to have a pork chop and this TV guy slides right in the booth and looks at me and goes, ‘Hi Mike,”’ Price recalled. “And he says, ‘Well, what’s the quote?’ to the A.D. I can’t believe it.

“Fifteen minutes and we were done, out of there. I was on the plane back home.”

Price said Dienhart offered no timetable to find a successor for Jim Wacker, who resigned three weeks ago.

“It’s just in the very beginning stages,” Price stressed. “Just preliminary discussions. They didn’t offer me the job.”

Was money the reason Price decided to check out Minnesota?

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on why I went back there,” he said.

For now, Price said he plans to continue recruiting. Several prospects were expected at the Price home for dinner Friday night, he said, and similar visits are scheduled every night through Wednesday.

Price spent part of Friday afternoon meeting with WSU quarterback Ryan Leaf, one of several players who had expressed concern Thursday about Price’s intentions. But Price said he doesn’t expect to hold a team meeting.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to have a team meeting and tell the players that I looked at another job,” he said. , DataTimes