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News Nuggets, 08.16.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Ross takes Army retro with football uniforms

WEST POINT — Army's football players will sport a familiar old look this fall under first-year head coach Bobby Ross.

One of the sport's most successful coaches at both the college and professional levels, Ross has reinstituted a classic "look" for his club's uniforms, tailoring the design to that worn by the Black Knights during their national championship era of the 1940s under legendary head coach Earl "Red" Blaik.

"When I first came to West Point, the biggest thing I was looking for was something traditional to latch on to in a positive way," explains Ross. "There was nothing more obvious to me than to look at the success of our national championship teams and copy their uniforms exactly. I spoke with (equipment manager) Jason Pierce. We received some diagrams on them, looked back through the archives and found almost an exact replica of what we wanted to do.

"I think it gives our players, supporters and alumni something real positive to relate to. It's also a reminder to us — the 2004 team — that the West Point football team has been a winner in the past. Every time we put on that game uniform is going to be a reminder of that."

Army's "retro" fashion will include home black jerseys featuring black, gold and gray stripes on both sleeves and gold "tackle-twill" numbers affixed to the front and nameless back. The Black Knights will don solid gold pants matching their timeless gold helmets.

The team's road white jerseys will also bear black, gold and gray stripes on both sleeves, complementing solid gold pants. Army's away tops will feature black "tackle-twill" numbers affixed to the front and nameless back.

"Our players took to the style right away," says Ross. "They appreciate the significance to the design and the color of the uniforms during those days.

"I prefer not to put players' names on the uniforms. The main reason for that is that football is a `we' game, and any time you put names on the backs of jerseys there is some significance to the `me.' I would much prefer the players to be in similar game jerseys and obviously, different names would not make them the same. But we will use the insignia of the different units of the United States Army. That's a tradition that has been set and we'll certainly follow through on that."

The Black Knights captured three successive national championships (1944-46) while donning the classic uniform style under Blaik.

Army has worn similar "throwback" uniform tops on two occasions in recent years, sporting the uniform design for a game against Rice in 1995 and again versus Navy in 1999. The Black Knights celebrated the 50th anniversary of Blaik's national championship winning squads by wearing the jerseys against Rice in 1995, while both Army and Navy sported "throwback" tops in the teams' 100th meeting in 1999.

East Carolina fans will get an up close and personal chance to see Army's retro road look when Ross's team invades Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for a battle on Oct. 30.

Army will debut the classic look on Sept. 11 when the Black Knights open their 115th season of intercollegiate competition and first under Ross by hosting Louisville. The contest will be televised regionally by Regional News Network and video-streamed over the Internet by GoArmySports.com.

Wiser Price on mission of redemption at UTEP

EL PASO — The view from Texas-El Paso coach Mike Price's office high above the Sun Bowl depends on perspective.

The casual observer sees the site of some of the most pathetic football of the past three decades, an often deserted desert stadium overshadowed by scraggly hills.

But Price sees untapped potential in a 51,500-seat stadium and scenic athletic complex wedged into the foothills of the Franklin Mountains. He sees an eager fan base in the historic city of 700,000 just across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

And at 58, he sees perhaps a last shot at redemption after losing a $10 million job at Alabama following a night involving alcohol and strippers.

"I feel real lucky," said Price, a former national coach of the year who was hired in December by the Miners. "This has been a really humbling experience."

When Price leads the Miners onto the field for the first time Sept. 2 at Arizona State, he'll officially join the small fraternity of coaches trying to make good after off-the-field embarassments.

George O'Leary begins anew at Central Florida, his first head coaching job since Notre Dame fired him in 2001 because of a trumped up resume. Gary Barnett is back in Colorado following a suspension for comments about women who accused players of rape.

Price may have the toughest job of them all.

He was 83-78 with five bowl appearances in 14 seasons at Washington State. At UTEP, he leads a program with just one winning season in the last 15. The Miners have just six wins in the past three years and lost eight times last season by 28 or more points.

But Price gives UTEP fans hope.

"I've changed my mind on him," said Tony Stafford, an English professor and one of the few people on campus who raised concerns about hiring Price. "Since he's gotten here, I've come to see the kind of person he is. He's a guy who made a terrible mistake, but I think he's sorry for it."

Ticket sales are up and optimism is back for the first time in years at a school that clings to the memory of the 1966 NCAA basketball championship when it was still called Texas Western.

"There's a buzz that I haven't seen since I've been here," UTEP president Diana Natalicio said.

Price brought similar excitement to Alabama last year.

But he was fired after just four months, before coaching a game or signing his contract. Alabama's president cited drunken behavior after Price's highly publicized outing at a Florida strip joint in April 2003. Sports Illustrated reported that Price got drunk that night and had "aggressive" sex with strippers.

Price's $20 million libel and slander lawsuit is pending against the publisher of the magazine, which stands behind its story. He admits drinking too much, returning to his hotel room with a woman, then passing out and waking up with all his clothes on.

"Nothing that was in the article happened," Price said. "It was just a bunch of innuendoes. That night there were poor decisions on my part, but nothing like what was reported. There was no sexual activity with women."

Price's football future was in doubt a year ago. He was not a head coach last season for the first time in 23 years, and his prospects didn't look good. He was quickly and publicly rejected after seeking the Arizona job.

But UTEP, about as far from the spotlight as a Division I-A team can be, was interested.

Natalicio and athletic director Bob Stull liked Price but were cautious. They reviewed incident reports, called other schools and performed other "due diligence" that Stull wouldn't specify.

"It's one of those life-changing experiences where you either learn from it or you'll make the same mistake again, and I felt confident he'd learn from it," Natalicio said. "We got a coach of Mike Price's caliber, and he got a chance to redeem himself. ... And so everybody won."

Some Miners players said they didn't understand the fuss over Price's indiscretion.

"All that talk about him and his past didn't faze me one bit, and it shouldn't. It has nothing to do with football," receiver Chris Marrow said.

Price says he feels "reborn" at UTEP but realizes how far he fell.

"I went to the Rose Bowl (with WSU), stayed in a Beverly Hills suite as nice as you can get, took limos everywhere," he said. "At Alabama, I had drivers and Lear jets. ... Then, coming here to El Paso, I drove a pickup truck with two dogs. So it's been a humbling experience to say the least."

Even sharing the WAC title in 2000 didn't do much to lift UTEP's terrible tradition. It was just the school's third winning season since 1970. During that span, the Miners have won two or fewer games 21 times.

The first step to fixing the losing mentality, Price said, is discipline.

"I can't make them taller. I can't make them a lot faster. But I can make them more disciplined," said Price, who runs rigidly structured practices.

"Sometimes last year guys would straggle off. Sometimes guys would have conversations on the sideline," linebacker Robert Rodriguez said. "You don't see that anymore."

Price is also bringing in junior college transfers and using the same wide-open passing attack that made stars of Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf at Washington State.

He's also trying to reach out to Texas high school recruits, with new football camps in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Midland.

"My plans are to make this thing big," said Price, whose $225,000 contract is loaded with incentives based on attendance and wins. "I didn't just come here for a year. This could be it for me."

And why not? El Paso may not be big-time when it comes to college football, but it's sunny 318 days a year and Price is far from slumming it.

He has a two-story, 5,000-square-foot home, complete with a poolside counter featuring a barbeque, a refrigerator and a built-in Bud Light tap. Newly planted palm trees shade the swimming pool.

"We rarely go inside at night," he said.

Price also has a new look. He's lost 30 pounds, had laser surgery on his eyes and no longer needs glasses. The biggest change, he said, is his perspective.

"Family's the most important thing," he said. "All this stuff really doesn't count. It doesn't really matter what place you come in in the league. It doesn't matter how many color TVs you have. What matters is us, and that we really love each other a lot."

His wife of nearly 40 years, Joyce, stood by him after the incident in Florida. And he's coaching with both his sons for the first time, offensive coordinator Eric and quarterbacks coach Aaron.

In spite of everything that's happened, Price says he's happy with the way things turned out and ready to move on.

Still, he can't help but think about the blurry night in Florida that changed his life.

"Not a day goes by I don't think about it," he said.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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