Head Coach might be PRICE-Y

I am a long-time reader of BBB, but a new member and a first time poster. Let me be as lucid as possible. I put the Fan in Bulldog fanatics.

That being said, I am surprised that amongst all the talk of switching conferences, a compelling argument for UTEP has been neglected; I refer, of course, to their new coach, Mike Price. This guy knows his X's and O's. He was the national coach of the year in 1997, and was so good at Washington State that Alabama hired him (probably to help them beat the mighty Bulldogs... those folks at 'Bama are sill soar about those two)! My point is, if we are left out to dry in this conference shuffle -- and I pray to God we are not -- we should first examine how we can make ourselves more attractive the next time around instead of forming a quasi 9-11 commission to assign the blame for C-USA flying a proverbial plane into Wiley Tower! Obviously, there is nothing we can do about the "number of households" in Ruston (arguments about Shreveport and Monroe fan bases aside). What we can do is seek to improve our product, LA Tech. Take a page from UTEP's playbook and invest in your program by hiring a great coach who might be going through a tough time personally (Obviously, Mike Price's debauchery would not fly in Ruston, but you know what I mean). I love Tech, but sometimes we are too quick to play the victim, instead of taking a proactive response and fixing a situation. If we have a good product, everything else will fall into place.

These people dont get that though Summa. We went 9-2 a season and went to the Humanitarian bowl 3 years ago and all of a sudden we are a National Championship contender. As i've said many times, we have out noses so high in the air that we can not smell our own bullcrap. Whoever told us that we were superior to Sunbelt teams and tha we belong with the SEC really did this program's fans harm. We must win to build a winning tradition, not refer to past victories. In order to win, we must position ourselves against teams that we can beat. The problem with Tech is that we want to walk before we can crawl. Every poster on this board knows that if they were any of the other CUSA teams, that La.Tech would be lackluster at best. Of course we are not going to tell ourselves that because we are alumi and fans of La.Tech.

TECH BELONGS IN THE SUNBELT. IT IS A NATURAL FIT FOR OUR SCHOOL AND THAT'S WHERE WE ARE HEADED LIKE IT OR NOT.

[champion110]

Preaching to the choir, believe me.

[dawg80]

So, Champ110, you agree Tech belongs in the Belt?

[champion110]

H*ll No! That is laughable! I was making that statement to Summa about the coaching situation. geedawg got his post in there before mine. I need to start using the quotations.

[HogDawg]

Does ANYBODY on the BB&B know "geedawg" personally? If not, then there's no question that he's a flamer simply posing as a LA Tech fan.

Most of us posters on this board have met each other numerous times at the various LA Tech functions. IN fact, most of us have known each other for YEARS. I just want ONE (1) regular BB&B poster (out of at least 50 that I know personally on this board) to tell me that they have met geedawg personally and that he's legit. Otherwise, I'm betting that geedawg and Vic the Demon are one and the same.

HD

[Cal&Ken]

Does ANYBODY on the BB&B know "geedawg" personally? If not, then there's no question that he's a flamer simply posing as a LA Tech fan.

I don't care if they do know him or not. He is no TECH fan. No one with the garbage he posts is a TECH fan. I am looking for that ignore button -sure wish we had one.

[boxerdog]

I just can't wait until we face-off with the Miners on the gridiron. Oh yeah, they've got Price while we retained Bicknell... Well, nevermind!

Face off with the Minerson the gridiron?? The same Miners that that we had to use every bit of 4 quarters to beat? The same Miners that will have a very capable coach? Be careful what you ask for. We could barely beat Southwest Popcorn State last year.

Hogdawg, no I have not met any of the posters on this board. Though I'm sure I have passed several of you by at Tech games.

As far as "Vic the Demon" I don't even know who that is.

I simply call it like i see it, unlike you and several other who always try to sugarcoat things.

Who was the first to call for Bick's head after our biggest win of the season? Me! The rest of you were blinded by the victory, but i actually saw the game and for 3.9 quarters we were awful.

Who said Tech had no shot at CUSA because of the lack of leadership at our school? Me! The rest of you were spewing crap about how it would come down to us and North Texas when CUSA would never have selected either of us even if they hadn't selected UTEP.

Who has constantly advocated a move to the conference in which belong and enjoy the most success (Sunbelt)? Me! At least I'm consistent with my message as opposed to you Hogdawg who sticks his finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.

I dont want us to be in the Sunbelt no more than the rest of you if we could be in Conf USA but we just are not at that point yet. We are not consistent on the field or economically. I know that, you know that, Conf USA knows that.

My message to Conf USA is I dont hate you for selecting UTEP because i know why you selected UTEP. Money...........and that's the bottom line. You can compare TEch and UTEP all you want but it came down to money. UTEP has much more potential than Tech and at least they ARE trying. All we get from Tech leadership is rhetoric.......no results just rhetoric.

To be quiet honest, the cajuns would be way ahead of us if they were in a larger market. Tech needs to be innovative!

[parisdog]

Dang man, how many times are you going to post? I think most of us can get your message after reading it just once...

[boxerdog]

Gee, dawg, I was just joking. I didn't mean to provide another occasion for you to celebrate yourself. If I recall, you were wrong many times last season. I see no mention of those occasions.

[altadawg]

Dang man, how many times are you going to post? I think most of us can get your message after reading it just once...

Probably as many times as we are going to have to point out the fact that he is a flamer, not a Tech fan, and that he should be simply laughed at.

I found out a little about "geedawg". He is a part time Pizza delivery driver for Dominos. Saving up for his 5th attempt to finish his senior year at ULM in General Studies.

I disagree about the Subelt move. It is a truism of life that you are judged by the company you keep. After moving to the WAC we had some very successful recruiting efforts (an all-American kicker from College Station and we beat out OK State for a WR). We even got a natioal top 30 ranking on that class from Max Emfinger (however you spell his name... BTW, does he have a kid on the team or something? He consistently ranks us higher thatn everyone else)! This year we beat out Nebraska for a RB and landed an amazing Juco QB. Even Brent Rawls, a parade all-american left Oklahoma for Tech. If we were still Indy, or in the Sun Belt , that NEVER happens.

As for the administration, I think Reneau has done some good work. With out his record-breaking fund raising, or his leadership on the selective admissions, we would have been out of contention long ago for C-USA (let me dispel the rumors now; I am NOT Dr. Dan Reneau, nor do I know him personally). Don't think academics matters to leagues? Ask your self why Vandy is in the SEC. Ask your self why Baylor is in the Big 12. It's not to be the conference whipping boys. It's b/c they bring up the whole league's avg. ACT scores, Grad rates, and other prestigious numbers. The quality of our students needed more urgent addressing than the quality of our athletics, if you ask me. But no body did, so I'll climb down off my soapbox and take my garrulous self elsewhere.

More UTEP Propoganda:

Myth: Mike Price is a football god and savior of UTEP.

Fact: In 22 seasons as a head coach, he's had 10 winning seasons. His record at Washington State was 83-77 (.518).
His overall record is 129-121 (.516). Yes, he was national coach of the year in 1997. That 10-2 season was
sandwiched between these stellar years: 1995, 3-8; 1996, 5-6; 1998, 3-8; 1999, 3-7; 2000, 4-7. He then followed that with two 10-2 seasons

What does that mean? He'll lose most of the time, then have a couple of winning seasons... at which time he jumps ship to a bigger fish.

Odds are he will not get his 11th winning season at UTEP anytime soon. But when he finally does, he's hitting the road to _____________ (insert BCS probation school or BCS celler dweller) for a fat pay raise. Except the next time, he'll make sure he signs a contract before getting slobbered in a hotel with a room-service-addict skank.

[aubunique]

Dawgtired, you speak straight to the point. I am still trying to figure out why Alabama didn't want a guy that the coeds wanted to kiss. I think they just happened to figure out he wasn't a great coach and used that as an excuse. Funny how pathetically judgmental some people are if they don't attract the opposite sex. They hate people who do.
Oh, yeah. Price is too old. Just ask those party girls. I would like Bicknell better if he coached well and got in trouble over women. A man is supposed to be easily seduced by women. Just keep Bicknell sober or he might start getting in trouble with the girls and coaching better and won't ever be fired!