Finally, Done Deal For Price New Contract Will Bring Coach $3.752 Million Over Eight Years

Mike Price remembers hand-painting the interior of what passed for a weight room at Washington State in the 1970s, when his duties as an assistant football coach included tracing action figures onto the walls with the aid of a projector.

After signing an eight-year, $3.752 million contract extension Friday, Price could probably hire Leroy Nieman to do his art work, although WSU’s sparkling new weight room hardly needs refurbishing.

Yes, Price’s long-awaited contract extension has become official, culminating a stunning five-month run that saw the Cougars defeat UCLA, USC and Washington en route to their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1931.

Price, who had been earning $252,970 annually as part of a five-year package that had two years remaining, will now earn $469,000 per season - more than all but four of his peers in the Pacific-10 Conference.

In nine seasons as WSU’s head coach, Price has taken the Cougars to three bowl games, winning two, while compiling a 53-49 record. Of equal importance, he has exceeded expectations in building a program that graduates most of its players, athletic director Rick Dickson said.

“This is the place for me,” Price, 52, told reporters at a noon press conference.

“I’d love to wrap up my career here. I’m real, real happy and real appreciative and I think this sends a statement where we want to be and where we’re going.

“We’re going in the right direction - up.”

Price’s annual salary includes $144,000 in base pay, another $275,000 in outside compensation and up to $50,000 in annuities, depending on how long he stays. Price will also receive an unspecified increase in the amount of money available for assistant coaches, who previously averaged $76,000 in annual salary.

Price’s contract includes a buyout clause for $75,000, an unusually low figure.

“I think the term and the terms of the contract protect the program enough,” Dickson said. “In other words, if there’s something that is significantly better than that, it’s most likely at a different level (the NFL), and if that’s the case and if Mike wants and receives that type of opportunity, we wouldn’t stand in his way.”

Price was a backup quarterback at WSU in the 1960s and served as an assistant there in the ‘70s under Jim Sweeney, Warren Powers and Jackie Sherrill.

After two seasons as an assistant at Missouri, he moved on to Weber State, where he was head coach from 1981-88. Price was named head coach at WSU the following year.

“I love this place - it’s been part of my life for 18 years,” Price said.

“There’s no way I would I want to leave after we struggled with the facilities and the attendance for years.

“Now we’ve got it going where we’ve got a great facility here, we’re re-doing the football locker room and Bohler Gym and Rick has plans for additional facility improvements. This would be the last time a guy would want to leave here.”

Price and Dickson began discussing an extension after the second week of last season, Dickson said. They agreed to postpone discussions until after the season, allowing Price to focus on football.

As the victories piled up, the stakes continued to rise. Finally, with WSU ranked 11th nationally heading into the Apple Cup, Dickson went to WSU president Sam Smith and the Board of Regents.

“I felt like it was time for this university to provide Mike and his staff with a contract that was above and beyond expectations, given Mike’s nine years here and the (limited) resources that he has operated with during that time,” Dickson told them.

At about the same time, Dickson was on the verge of accepting a seven-year, $3 million offer to become athletic director at Texas Christian University. He turned down the offer once news of the offer threatened to disrupt WSU’s Rose Bowl party.

With Dickson having recommitted to WSU, he and Price renewed their efforts to strike a deal. They quickly reached a general understanding, and they hoped to reach a formal agreement shortly after WSU’s 21-16 loss to top-ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Price’s recruiting schedule made that almost impossible.

Things moved quickly with the passing of Wednesday’s national letter-of-intent signing day. By Friday, Price was ready to raise the stakes again.

“As far as going to the Rose Bowl and winning the Pac-10 championship and graduating all your seniors, that mission hasn’t changed,” he said. “But I guess we could throw the national championship into that mission a little bit more frequently than we did in the past.”

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