Mike Price
Followed Gary Nord. Mike Price moved UTEP from Regional Program V to Regional Program IV in 10 seasons.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached National Program in his 1st career season — faster than 41% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #1 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
3–11 against his rivals. Just 1–5 against David Bailiff.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
10th-best UTEP tenure of 20 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Gary Nord (2000–2003) · succeeded by Dana Dimel (2018–2023).
| Season | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||||
| Record | 8–4 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 0–7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | L bowl | — | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | #117 | #127 | #123 | #129 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33.4 | 46.3 | 44.4 | 48.8 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Patrick Higgins | Patrick Higgins | Brent Pease | Brent Pease | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Scott Stoker | Scott Stoker | Tom Mason | Tom Mason | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | 7 | 19 | 0 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | 64 | 25 | 27 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 30.4 | 37.7 | 29.1 | 37.4 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 28.6 | 58.9 | 32.6 | 34.1 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 21.2 | 12.9 | 50.0 | 22.7 | |
10 NFL Draft picks: Trey Darilek (2004), Adrian Ward (2005), Thomas Howard (2006), Johnnie Lee Higgins (2007), Jordan Palmer (2007), Oniel Cousins (2008), Quintin Demps (2008), Marcus Thomas (2008) + 2 more
2nd-best Washington State tenure of 21 by the numbers.
Followed Dennis Erickson (1987–1988) · succeeded by Bill Doba (2003–2007).
28 NFL Draft picks: Mike Utley (1989), Steve Broussard (1990), Tony Savage (1990), Tim Stallworth (1990), Dan Grayson (1990), Jason Hanson (1992), Michael Wright (1992), Drew Bledsoe (1993) + 20 more