Price returns to sideline tonight vs. ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. — Mike Price is trying to keep a low profile in his return to college football.

Price lost a $10 million job with Alabama last year for a night of partying at a strip club. He returns to coaching on a much smaller stage tonight, leading Texas-El Paso against Arizona State.

The Miners got more publicity by hiring Price than they earned by winning the Western Athletic Conference championship in 2000 — one of only 12 times in the last 33 seasons that UTEP has managed to win more than twice.

In keeping with his rebuilding job, Price has stayed under the radar.

The last time the teams met, in 1995, Arizona State won 45-20, the Sun Devils’ seventh straight over the Miners and 24th win in the last 25 meetings.

The 2000 season marked UTEP’s only bowl appearance in the last 15 years.