A True Leader Mike Price Gains Respect For The Way He Carries Himself On And Off The Field

Until this season, Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood was still receiving hate mail from Pullman, asking why he hadn’t taken Mike Price with him when he left Washington State in 1994.

Until this season, Price was recognized at least as much for his personality and people skills as for his football mind and his ability to evaluate and develop talent.

Until this season, the public consensus was that Price would go to the Rose Bowl only if someone left him a ticket at will call. Now he sits comfortably on the eighth floor of The Loews hotel, luxuriating in his posh Rose Bowl suite, complete with baby grand piano and majestic ocean view.

With the Cougars headed to the Rose Bowl and ranked eighth in the nation, the inclination is to search for some great transformation, for some dramatic philosophical shift, for some way to explain away what Price and the Cougars have accomplished. But Price has adapted more than he has changed.

Sure, he no longer indulges in the promotional gimmicks that sold tickets at Weber State and made him an easy target on the Palouse, but that’s ancient history now.

“There’s been no great evolution at all,” said Livengood, who hired Price in ‘89. “He was a great coach when he was 3-8 and he’s a great coach when he’s 10-1. “He’s still doing the same things.”

This year, he’s doing those things with Ryan Leaf at quarterback.

When the Cougars won nine games in ‘92, they had Drew Bledsoe.

“You’ve got to have a trigger,” WSU defensive coordinator Bill Doba said, recognizing the importance of the quarterback in Price’s pass-oriented offense. “I mean, this coaching is way overrated. You’ve got to have players.”

Recruiting to Pullman has always been the challenge. In that regard, Price and his staff have been more successful than anyone might have expected. Price has done it by keeping remarkable continuity on his staff while earning the respect of his players. Without exception, Price’s assistant coaches talk appreciatively about his understanding when it comes to putting family before football. Their sincerity is reflected in their loyalty.

Jim Zeches has stuck with Price for 11 seasons. Doba, Larry Lewis and John McDonell have been on the staff for nine. Receivers coach Mike Levenseller signed on six years ago. Granted, none of them has been inundated with big-money offers to leave, but each surely could have moved on long ago. Price has given them reasons to stay.

He gives them two-hour lunch breaks. He encourages them to go home for dinner. When an assistant’s child has a soccer game or piano recital, Price tells them to take off. “When you have a guy that does that, you appreciate that, and so you’re going to bust your ass for him and you’re going to have second thoughts about going with someone else,” said Zeches, who coaches outside linebackers and coordinates recruiting.

The working environment is also a plus.

“The thing that I love about Mike Price, he’s pretty consistent,” Doba said. “He’s pretty level, winning and losing. “He doesn’t point the finger and say the defense lost it. He’ll take the blame even when he doesn’t have to. And he doesn’t blame his players, especially in the press.”

Current and former players talk about Price’s honesty and compassion.

Two years ago, when Michael Black was having trouble convincing other recruiters that his troubles with the law were behind him, Price sensed that Black was telling the truth.

“He talked to me like a man,” Black said. “He felt that I was pretty mature and I was one of the guys who would be able to make my own decisions. He has confidence in me and I respect that.”

Not only has Black stayed out of trouble with the law, but he has become one of the best running backs in school history. He rushed for 1,157 yards and 11 touchdowns this season and expects to graduate in May. Five years ago, when Jason McEndoo was on a recruiting visit to WSU, he told Price about the trip he had just taken to Notre Dame.

“Lou Holtz was talking about scholarships and this and that, and I just didn’t really know if it was real or not,” McEndoo told Price at the time.

Before McEndoo could continue, Price handed him a folder. Inside was a scholarship. It was that simple.

“That right there showed me a lot about him and his word,” said McEndoo, a three-year starter. “I had everything in my hand and I guess that was reality.”

Sixteen years ago, Lawrence Livingston was an offensive lineman on one of the worst football teams around. Weber State hadn’t had a winning season in 10 years, and the drill-sergeant approach of coach Pete Riehlman had worn thin with players. Some kept calendars in their lockers, counting down the days until season’s end.

In came Price, who had spent the previous three years as an assistant at Missouri. When he was first introduced to Livingston and the rest of the players, the response was less than inspiring.

“It was kind of half-hearted,” said Livingston, now Price’s offensive line coach. “Then he said, ‘Thanks guys, but listen: I’m going to go back out, I’m going to come back in and I want to hear the type of applause that you’re going to give to the next Big Sky champion head coach of Weber State football.”’

Price left the room. Players exchanged puzzled looks, unaware that Price would lead them to a 7-4 record in his first season and win a Big Sky title six years later.

“He comes back into the room and he starts high-fiving everybody and getting everybody to stand on their feet and cheer and before you know it, guys were having a ball,” Livingston said. “Just in that five-minute time before he started his talk, right there, I’ll always remember, he changed the whole atmosphere of the program.”

Ironically, the very enthusiasm that was critical at Weber may have hurt Price’s credibility when he came to WSU, especially under the circumstances.

Dennis Erickson, his predecessor, had succeeded with a businesslike approach and was loved by his players. In their eyes, Price could do no right.

Price’s credibility was compromised further by the fact that he had become a hands-off coach, a process that began during his final season at Weber State, when he also served as athletic director.

In Price’s first two seasons at WSU, Bill Diedrick tutored the quarterbacks and Joe Tiller ran the offense. That left some to wonder if Price could really coach.

“They were really experienced guys, really quality people, and so I just let them coach,” Price said, “but I don’t think the kids really bought into me and didn’t really respect me as a coach.

“The players at Weber knew I was a good coach, knew I knew football and that I wasn’t just an administrator. I had to earn that respect at Washington State.”

Price took a more active role after the ‘90 season, when Diedrick moved on to the CFL and Tiller left for Wyoming. “Now the guys, like Ryan Leaf or Drew Bledsoe or anybody like that, they tell you, ‘Can Price coach? Well, hell yeah he can.”’ Price says.

As he looks out over the Pacific Ocean from his $2,500-a-night Rose Bowl suite, the rest of the world would seem to agree.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (2 Color)