Coachwatch Update

By Eric Huseby, ABC 7 News Director

Okay, Bill Doba got rolled by Washington State more than a week ago, and the position is still vacant. Is or is not UTEP’s Mike Price at or near the top of Athletic Director Jim Sterk’s short list?

Nobody knows but Sterk and the people closest to him, and he’s gone incommunicado lately, vowing not to further publicly evaluate candidates until he’s make a decision. We did glean one important piece of information late last week, when he did an interview with radio station KJR, in which he said point blank that he had not spoken to Price about the job (after at least one other candidate – Montana coach Bobby Hauck was reported to have interviewed), and that Price might have some hurdles to overcome.

Former Oregon A.D. Bill Moos is “consulting” on the search. He has spoken to Price, who is in the uncomfortable position of having to mumble things that sound like denials of interest, but really aren’t. I can’t blame him for that. I’d do the same for a chance to double my pay at a place I had already proven I could succeed.

“Some things have occurred” was the closest Sterk would come to what sounded like a veiled reference to the Pensacola peccadillo, which, though ugly, turned out to be a lot less than Sports Illustrated hyped it to be. I don’t think that’s going to be the stumbling block. The manner of his departure from Pullman to Tuscaloosa is what still has some fans riled in Cougarland. After taking the Alabama job, he’s reported to have insisted on sticking around to co-coach the Rose Bowl even after Sterk had selected his successor, Doba.

What I get from all this, particularly after hearing Sterk’s voice, tone, and directness is that he is a pro, and isn’t tipping his hand. We’ll know when he tells us.

My hunch (which, when combined with $2 bucks, will get you a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s) says Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff gets the job. He runs a successful smaller program in the same part of the state. He has eight years experience making game day head coach decisions. He runs an exciting (ticket selling) no-huddle offense. He’s a Cougar alum. He’s a couple decades younger than Price. And, as the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported this week, he’s got a life story that would make a great movie, his mother having disappeared when he was twelve, never to be found again, with all suspicion (including Wulff’s) pointing toward his alcoholic father who was never charged. He was raised by siblings and other relatives, only to see his wife suffer five years with cancer and die in his arms. (He has since remarried.) None of that personal stuff is a reason to hire him as a Pac-10 football coach, but it speaks to his character. Former Cougar coach Jim Walden is still an active, beloved booster for the program. Walden emphatically supports Wulff, for whatever that’s worth.

I do too, because that would leave Mike Price right where he is. I think the Miners are going to be a very pleasant surprise next year.

(Check out a linkto that KJR radio interview with Washington State A.D. Jim Sterk. The whole thing is interesting, but if you give it a few seconds to load, you can grab the button at the bottom and fast forward to 8:40 into the interview to hear the Q and A about Mike Price. The conversation veers off on a tangent for a minute or two, then circles back to Price until about 13:40)