If Price Is Hungry, He Deserves Chance To Visit Job Market

Why is anyone surprised?

There are too many college football jobs open for Mike Price not to be considered for one of them.

We can, however, be amused at all the mileage - undesired, presumably - Washington State’s football coach is getting from one pork-chop dinner in Minneapolis.

For instance: a newspaper report out of the Twin Cities on Saturday placed Price in Boston, presumably noshing lobster and being cross-examined by search committee at Boston College. Another fishwrap had Price in New Orleans, spooning down gumbo and trying the Tulane job on for size.

Actually, he was home in Pullman, entertaining recruits. No word on the entree.

And no jokes about November squash, please.

So, basically, what we have is his dinner with Minnesota athletic director Mark Dienhart the other evening, and some garnishment from Price that any discussions about him coaching the Gophers were vague and preliminary.

Meaning he hasn’t yet signed up for direct deposit at U-Betcha Bank.

Hey, I’ll buy it. Just hope those recruits do, too.

This is not the standard intrigue you’d expect from a program coming off back-to-back seasons of 3-8 and 5-6, as Wazzu is - but I guess that’s something for Dienhart to explain to his alumni when they ask him what Mike Price has that their last guy, Jim Wacker, didn’t?

Since it was Minnesota and not Price that made the first move, he can proclaim that he isn’t looking for a job - though if you’re really not looking for a job, the correct answer when a strange A.D. invites you to dinner is, “No, thanks.”

Of course he’s looking. He owes it to himself and his family to look.

He also showed some class, if not candor, by refusing to air his reasons for looking.

Allow me to pinch hit.

There is the money, of course. The governor of Minnesota has said it will take $700,000 to attract the kind of coach the Gophers need, and even if Price could command only half of that it’s still twice as much as he makes now. At the age of 50, he may or may not be on his last contract at Wazzu - so why not double down at Minnesota? Even if it is closer to being the Oregon State of the Big Ten and not the Washington State.

In addition, Price’s job just got tougher this winter. No longer will the Pac-10 allow its schools to recruit academic non-qualifiers and have them become eligible after sitting out a year. No team in the conference took advantage of that talent source the way Wazzu did - Chad Eaton, Leon Bender, Brandon Moore and Nian Taylor are among the players who went that route - and the last thing Price needs is another obstacle to respectability.

And, finally, there is the issue of appreciation.

Price raised the bar for his program with bowl appearances in 1992 and 1994 - to the point where the swoons of the past two autumns aren’t easily swallowed. It’s not altogether logical, but the grumbling is audible. One can only wonder if there has been erosion of support from within the university, as well.

Price is not without his advocates, who can cite the Wazzu records of Jim Sweeney and Jim Walden and terrorize you with the hello-I-must-be-going tales of Jackie Sherrill, Warren Powers and Dennis Erickson.

Price has stayed and the Cougs have stayed competitive. What more could you reasonably expect?

Besides, they inevitably say, that other schools have come sniffing around should tell us that there is a much more positive perception of Price nationally than locally.

This is the part they should leave out.

Aside from a few pockets of resistance - Alabama and Nebraska come to mind - college football is a land where the other school’s coach is always keener. Terry Donahue, before he left UCLA, was much more highly regarded on a national scale than in his own backyard. Joe Tiller went 10-2 at Wyoming this year, yet heard boos at every home game - which may be why he’s headed to Purdue today.

I’ll bet it’s true even for a legend like Joe Paterno. The closer you get to State College, the more you’re likely to find someone who thinks his play selection is predictable. , As regards Price, the argument goes that we won’t know what we’ve got ‘til he’s gone. That in itself may be true, but it won’t be because a search committee in Minnesota thinks he’s aces. They have no better grasp of the limitations - and attributes - of WSU and Pullman than we do.

Remember, Minnesota once thought Jim Wacker was the right man for the job.

If it’s somebody else’s perception that counts, no one would ever have to be fired.

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review