Watch Price after 64-7 loss

Mike Price, one of the NCAA's winningest active college football coaches, hasn't been here before, not at Weber State or at Washington State. How will he handle being UTEPed - the grave diggers marching up the school's Got The Boot Hill?  Will he be planted like so many before him?<p>

As mentioned in this blog recently, many UTEP coaches have blown their cool under similar conditions: a poor start (1-3), a disgruntled fan base (low attendance in first two home games), and losing by 57 points going into another home game. Not many Division I-A schools lose by that many points, even when they play a top team like Saturday's opponent, Texas. And a long list of Price's ancestors have been fired after all this, not because they didn't know football, but because the program runs on (ticket) money.<p>

Price, looking at his fourth losing season in a row, said on his post-game radio show (Fox 92.3 FM): It was a "thorough thrashing." We "had guys hurt; it didn't do anything for our confidence or spirit ... we were just horrible."

That said it all, and Price was still pretty calm and collected talking with Jon Teicher on the post-game show. Can he keep it up? Was he dying inside, but still able to air out his usual charm? I'm saying it's killin' the guy, but I don't know how long he'll be able to take it. It certainly took its toll on two of the last three coaches, Gary Nord and David Lee. Charley Bailey, the Mr. Old Gruff, never had a winner in between those two, and he retired and left Nord the 2000 team that went to the Bowl in Boise.<p>

But losing football coaches, here and everywhere else in the country, get no respect. Boosters grumble and even the coaching staff's kids' have to listen to hallway pot-shot-taking at school.<p>

The game Saturday:<p>

- UTEP had no linemen to go slam for slam with Texas. No push forward. That's always been the case when the Miners play a big school. That's why they haven't beaten one of the now-BCS schools since 1974, and that was only Arizona State. Recruiting linemen will be a question I'll bring up in a future blog. Why doesn't UTEP have a line - again?<p>

- UTEP junior quarterback Trevor Vittatoe, who will set all UTEP's passing records after next season, was dangled by Texas' defense. He had no line to let him take a breath back in the passing pocket.<p>

- On five of UTEP's first six offensive possessions, there were mental and physical mistakes. Nobody wins with a start like that.<p>

This week (before playing Houston Saturday night in Sun Bowl Stadium):

- Please, no member of the El Paso sports media, a quite-friendly media these days, should ask Price or a player if they think they can beat Houston. They'll have to say yes. And don't ask the really stupid question about team attitude. They'll have to say it's great.<p>

No, they will be a pretty big underdog vs Houston, although a big, big upset is not impossible.<p>

And attitudes? Many UTEP teams have cashed it in when the going has gone bad. That's why "The Price Watch" is what it's all about STARTRING NOW. How will he handle all this? Being UTEPed is pretty hard to overcome.<p>

 

Comments

[DFWElPasoan]

I'd have to say it was almost embarassing watching the Miners play today. When a team can't even execute a punt (at least 2nd time this year) you know the coaching staff is not preparing these kids for the game.

I live in DFW area and for once it would be nice to have something good to say to all these arrogant UT fans out here.

Mike Price took us for a nice ride, time to get a new coach and get some new young energy into this program. Go Miners!!

[Skip Johnson]

Well, once again Price says that "he didn't get the team ready." He is paid more money than any UTEP employee...I say that it's about time that he do his job and GET THE TEAM READY! UTEP is playing flat with no passion and way too many stupid mistakes.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1403507312]

Mike Price does this team no favors by allowing his son call the offensive plays. No only that, the coaching staff is really demoralizing to the kids. They coaching staff takes no responsibility whatsoever. Some of the finest young men at UTEP watch patiently to play on the bench while kids with legal problems, grade problems, etc get to play. The coaches don't respect the talent they have and the best players are not played and the defense and offense play calling is atrocious.

[small-media-large]

UTEP had a miserable 53 TOTAL YARDS to UT's 639!!! This is embarrasing. I say Price should resign NOW and take his son with him. It wasn't a game. It was an execution. I for one will not go to another UTEP game as long as the Price's are coaching. Put a fork in them. They are done. And don't give me that "the fans must support them" B.S. We don't. Not this or any other lousy cheap Miner team. We have given them the benefit of the doubt as well as our support for too long without getting anything in return. BTW, Houston is going to kick your behind too. Good luck in getting 20,000 fans to show up.

[dellcity]

I'm pretty neutral on Price, but I have to say, from what I saw, it wasn't the coaches' fault today. The Miners just could not execute.

Give a bunch of credit to the Longhorns as they are good enough to cause lots of problems for its competition. You have to give a lot of credit to the Miner team as well. I thought the plays being called were fine. Unfortunately, none of the Miners executed on either side of the ball, especially the quarterback, who, for all the hype for this junior, in my opinion, is just not that good.

It's pretty obvious the Miners should play the likes of NMSU, UNM, and the lower division CUSA teams. These teams are the level of talent the Miners can compete with.

It's going to be another long season.

[monchis]

dang get rid of the fat turkey he is only getting fatter maybe a new comer with no experience does a much better job, cause in the long run you will only have ticket holders at the games and that my friend is embarrassing

[Chamrod04]

YOUR 2009 UTEP MINERS EVERYBODY! LOL I mean this idiot should resign after this game. He's done, over. I mean how much more humiliation must we go through before we see any changes happen to UTEP and while you're at it to our city as well. It kicks me in the stomach to hear other idiots saying "well its ok we gotta support the Miners," or my favorite "we weren't going to win anyways but go miners." ENOUGH WITH THIS MEDIOCRITY!!! I want wins, to quote Mike Singletary, "I WANT WINNERS." And this folks, is not a group of winners and it starts in the front office of Stull then leaks down of course to good ol' Mike Price. This was a pathetic game to watch for a single minute, and what I laugh at is that Teicher didn't even hold the Post Game Call sessions, because what can he say? WE STINK, I of course would use way worse because we are beyond the stink limit. I am ashamed to see my University and my city be handing us its citizens this garbage. I will not spend another dollar on a UTEP Football game this yr. Heck while your at it, just bring Men's Soccer to UTEP, bet they would get more attendance for that than this garbage they call football.

[Mahlon Wilkins]

STOP THE BLEEDING!! FIRE MIKE PRICE, HIS SON THE UNQUALIFIED OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR AND THE WHOLE BUMBLING COACHING STAFF!! NOW!! FIND A NEW HUNGRY COACH THAT WILL RECRUIT PLAYERS THAT CAN TACKLE, SCRAMBLE, PASS, HIT, BLOCK AND PLAY FOOTBALL WITH PASSION!! DON'T RECRUIT QB'S THEN CONVERT THEM TO MIDDLE LINEBACKER???!! WHAT'S THAT ALL ABOUT??? NO WONDER THE DEFENSIVE BACKS ARE MAKING ALL THE TACKLES!! HOW CAN YOU BE LOSING BY 30 POINTS IN THE 2ND OUARTER AND STILL RUN THE BALL ON 1ST AND 2ND DOWN??? BRILLANT PLAY CALLING!! utep STUNK UP AUSTIN ON SATURDAY AND mike price TRIED TO HIDE BEHIND HIS SUN GLASSES BUT couldn't. OFFER THE PRICE FAMILY A BUYOUT AND STOP THE AGONY FOR THE MINERS FANS. THIS IS EMBARRASSING!! THE PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!! HE IS MAKING THE GAME A SOAP OPERA!! "LIKE SANDS IN THE HOUR GLASS, THESE ARE THE DAY'S OF THE MINERS LIVES" CUE THE MUSIC!!

[no tommorrow]

wow...how about scheduling 5 soft teams prior to the start of Conference USA games. Then at least UTEP would have a chance to make a Bowl Game.

[Oscar]

Embarassing...and I bet the post game show with John Teicher after the game..."Despite the score, I saw some good things out there..." All he is doing is trying to blind the UTEP faithful with its comments. We can't have someone doing commenting about UTEP football who has a heavy influence on day to day activies at UTEP. FIRE HIME, BOB STULL AND THE UTEP FOOTBALL STAFF!!!!!! As far as I am concerned if Bob Stull can't remove the blinders, get someone who can see objectively. Otherwise don't embarass the school by putting the name on a national picture (ranked schools) and play pathetic, even as a joke. No recruit is going to come and play when a team is perceived aa a cupcake. Stick with Texas Souther, Texas State, Alcorn State, teams like these. Period. We need to acknowledge who we are and accept it.

[gus]

The miscalculations are obvious. Starting with poor planning and preperation for future starters. How can Price have problems finding a decent kicker. This is El Paso for God's sake! Kids who can reliably nail a 40+ yard field goal are a dime a dozen. The departure of Felix turned a better than average offensive line into a disaster. How can the gap in talent level between Felix and his replacement, Cullumber be so huge, that Vittatoe is absolutely ineffective? Cullumber is a junior and he had to battle a true freshman for the starting position. Does anybody realize what this means? This guy is getting schooled and beaten by every guy who lines up across from him. The line crumbles every time because this kid either doesn't have the skill, brains, pride or heart (and I suspect all four)to do his job right. Don't even get me started on how his mistakes cost UTEP the Buffalo game. Still, responsability falls upon the coaching staff and their poor planning. What did they think would happen when Felix left? How can his replacement be so bad that he took a decent and fairly efficient offense and turned into a joke? Poor planning, and now we have a stillborn season, which will kill recruiting this year. At the end of last year, Vittatoe and Adams looked like kids who would one day have a shot at the NFL. This season, more than likely will kill any opportunity they had.

[Scott Fitzgerald]

Excellent analysis from Joe Muench. I remember his initial "Got The Boot Hill." Price starts out his first two seasons with Nord's recruits and the Miners go bowling. Why this initial success didn't carry over to recruiting is the key point. Price bet the table, saying that's why he scheduled the likes of UT, Kansas etc. a few years earlier. He's failed over the long term. The Miners were absolutely pathetic on national TV. That's a huge setback. Time to start over with someone new.

[Inthemiddle]

Wow Joe, didn't expect for you to be so "nice" in this blog? What gives? Are you not upset about the lose or are you like "eh, it was #2 Texas...what did you expect?" You have no mention of possible benching Trevor Vittatoe.....why???? The line is NOT responsible for him making stupid mistakes like throwing off his back-foot....he just didn't care...so it seems....get a hungry kid in there!

Serious question, I don't pick up the paper much...i read online....do your columns/commentary get published IN PRINT...if not WHY NOT? You used to. Does UTEP have that much power in the El Paso Times newsroom that they only have you online so what you say won't be read by the "masses" .....even though a lot more people are online...but you get what I mean....

and get back to me when Texas beats Florida or USC....but we still should have shown some heart....

[Jefe]

The grease from all the turkey legs & sloppy joes from the week before were the reason utep lost the game, right coach?

Hey Price,
What a difference a week makes. You went from an arrogant SOB to, an excused filled SOB.
Maybe you should bring in Gary Nord as your recruiting coordinator. The only time you've won was with his player, right coach?!
It must suck to be you!

[HBaumann]

There is alot more that has been brought to the El Paso community besides football by the Price family. I personally have enjoyed all the excitement around the football games that the coaching staff has brought. Yes, it's about winning to most, but there is so much more to it than that. We are lucky to have the coaches we do and by the way they actually LOVE El Paso...imagine that!
Who would want a job that when they have difficult years, everyone gets to comment on it....probably none of us!
We have 3 games against ranked teams, we should be happy to have had some class acts come to El Paso largely due to relationships that Mike Price has with the UT Coach and others.
Yes, winning is important but it is not everything. I remember when we used to laugh at people who went to the games. Just two weeks ago, I was amazed to see all of the families, hords of people out for a fall football game...Are we going to let a last minute holding call and a loss against #2 Texas change all that?
REALLY?

[small-media-large]

Baumann. It's not the fact that UTEP lost, but HOW they lost. As a matter of fact, it is about the lack of pride, discipline, and toughness that this UTEP team has had in the past 3 years. This is a reflection of the coaching staff. Sure, Price may be a good guy, but you know what they say about good guys and where they finish. The world of sports emphasizes one thing and one thing only; competition! The Miners don't or won't compete. They need to be taught this. I'm afraid Price et.al. can't teach them. This football program needs serious and tough leadership at all levels, starting with Stull. It is time for a change.

[john60]

Mike Price: what can i say, it begins at the top and something is not working with the player, they have not discipline and have loss the will to win. Mike Price can say what he wants, but hey you and the player have very big problem, and until you find out the fan are not going to support them. The only time you really get is when the fans do not come out,and hurt the UTEP program.
It is not Bob Stull problem, he doing a great job over all, with what money. It all go back to the players and coaches, who have not come together to play.

[Smitty]

I'm already at loss for words. I'm sitting in the middle of Death Valley yesterday training for our upcoming deployment, watching the Miner game on ESPN gamecast and every drive line is burnt orange. I cut it off after the third quarter cause I couldn't bare it anymore. Not sure what its going to take for our team to start winning. I happend to be on youtube and saw clips of the Miner's upset of BYU in 1985. I highly suggest that our coaching staff replay these highlights to the team. The defense was spectacular to say the least back in that game. Everything the Cougars tried was knocked down dead by one of the best defensive games UTEP has ever played. It can be done! When the nation comes calling, our military always produces victory. Miners, El Paso is calling. We will not be the laughing stock of Texas football. If you even remotly feel like this may be too hard of a season (again), QUIT and let the players who want to make a difference step up cause I know they're around. It's not about who the coach or quarterback is by name, but about the heart of the entire team. Hell, I don't know maybe watching Rocky 1-6 might help.

[Miner Alum Ollie]

Time for Mike to have a team party, then, retirem before he sets a negative record no-one can match.MIDWEST MINER MAVENS. St.Louis

[Prospero]

I SAY THE MINERS ARE GONNA FINISH 7-5 THIS SEASON. ONLY TWO MORE LOSSES.

[Maven]

My take. No need to say how bad the beat down was. The Longhorns could have scored a hundred points had they wanted to execute their offense to the end. That much is obvious.

I say this. If the team has a losing record at the end of the year, then find a new coach. It makes no sense to dump the coach at this stage of the season.

I also think it's time to get the backup QB some reps. Do not bench the starter, but give the guy in the wings a chance to play. I noticed the Aggies went with two QBs in their victory over the Lobos. That seemed to spark their team.

[Tony]

Truth is that Utep/El Paso is not attractive to any big time or for that matter DECENT caliber recruits. Mike price has lost a lil of his flair and reputation he built at WSU However your asking him to Coach the Bad news bears In D-1 NCAA. El Paso offers nothing to a young man wanting to play Football and get an education. No night life, no big time attractions(amusement Parks/Etc...) plus we are a border town that offers all this dramm and fear because of drug cartels and murders. What Kid would want to come to this? Mike Price is the Best we can get for our Buck regardless of how atrocious the season has been and will continue to be. Ease up a lil on Price and Miners, Its this city that wouldnt allow even the likes of Bill Parcells or Bellicheck to Succeed here.

[SM]

I think all UTEP fans need to relax a bit and realize that the level of talent between UT Austin and UTEP is so disparate that it is hard to find anything in common between the two teams.

This is not a knock on UTEP, but just a statement of how things are. UT Austin (I love adding the Austin...I know, I'm sick) recruits virtually all 5 and 4 star recruits, and very seldom 3 star recruits. Teams like NMSU and UTEP sometimes pull in a 3 star recruit, but that's it. Occasionally, you'll see a transfer from a bigger school come in who was highly recruited out of high school.

What does this all mean? It means that every single player on UT's roster, including their backups, would be the best player on a team like UTEP, UNM or NMSU. That means a whole lot in football, where strength, quickness, and agility are all that matters. That you lost in embarrassing fashion to UT should not mean that Price needs to leave. He needs to just keep trying to get hidden gems (Vitattoe, Buckram, Moturi) and see what happens.

On a side note, big props to my Aggies last night. UNM is awful, yes, but they have more talent than us this year. Walker coached a magnificent game and controlled the ball. That kept our defense off the field and enabled them to make key plays late in the game. Very good feeling to finally knock off the Lobos!!!

[just a thought]

SM is correct. The talent levels were night and day. No longer can people say our starters can run with anyone and it's all about depth. Not so says Texas.

Embarrassing. Bill Knight wrote about the golden era of UTEP football. Hogwash. UTEP teams were getting throttled like this no differently back in the 80s and 90s. Vittatoe looked like Leonard Lilja yesterday.

I'm not so sure that playing the big boys helps anymore. Why not? It's not like playing your 8 year-old with the 12 year-olds and he/she adjusts. That happens over many games. This is like you against Tiger Woods once a year. You might get slightly better but is the embarrassment really worth it? This Texas type game is one game once and a while and you don't grow like that. You may in fact regress in terms of confidence and execution. I'm not saying schedule cupcakes but comparable competition. You won no recruits by playing UT- Austin yesterday. Oh, look here comes Houston.

[minerfaninflorida]

hey coach bench your QB maybe that will light a fire under his butt!!! instead of playing to just set a school record he will play to win!!!!!!!!!It is so easy to say hey fire the coach and get someone else---really who are you gonna get?????I want to see everyones comments when UTEP does come out with a winning record this year. yeah boycotting the rest of the games is really gonna help yeah typical El Paso attitude!!!!!!try standing behind the coach and school---coach bench your QB!!!!