ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
``You never know,'' George ``Tic'' Price said. ``You just never know.''
Price doesn't have to sell that notion as NCAA Tournament motivation to his New Orleans basketball team. He has lived it.
So many times since Price first stepped onto the Richmond Coliseum floor 20 years ago did he think he'd become a college head coach
Price always thought he'd become a college head coach. It just didn't happen as soon as he expected. Then, it happened sooner than expected.
When he went to Virginia Commonwealth 20 years ago after starring at George Washington High School in Danville, he never figured he'd play the last half of his college career at Virginia Tech. And when he was hired as an assistant coach at New Orleans in July 1994, he never thought he'd be in charge of the Privateers two weeks later.
``I always said I'd be a head coach before I was 40,'' said Price, who had that birthday in November. ``I made it, but the way I got it, I wish I wouldn't have gotten it.''
In tonight's East Regional first-round game at the Richmond Coliseum, Price finds himself going against a team revered not only in his back yard, but inside his house, too.
North Carolina is a nine-point favorite over the Sun Belt Conference tournament champions.
``We're really, really excited about playing you and the program,'' Price said to UNC coach Dean Smith during a media conference call this week.
``That's what I'm afraid of,'' Smith said.
It is Smith's 26th NCAA trip as the head Heel. It's the first for Price, who spent 14 years as an assistant coach at Roanoke, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Tech, Old Dominion and Auburn before following his Auburn boss, Tommy Joe Eagles, to UNO.
``They say things happen for a reason,'' Price said. ``I'm still trying to figure out why it was like this.''
On July 31, 1994, Price, on a recruiting trip, got a phone message to call Eagles' home. His boss' daughter, Katie, answered the phone.
``You'd better come back,'' she said. ``My daddy's died.''
Less than a week after Eagles' fatal heart attack, Price was named UNO's interim head coach. A few games into the 1994-95 season, the ``interim'' was made history, and Price was given a contract through the 1997-98 season.
If last season wasn't already tough enough, the Privateers finished 20-11, then didn't even get a National Invitation Tournament bid. Price was the only rookie head coach in the country to win 20 games.
``We were down about that, sure,'' Price said, ``but it was nothing like dealing with Tommy Joe being gone. That was a tragedy. He just had a magic about him.
``Last year, I felt somewhat guilty as we went along. It was his team, and it was like I was carrying out his legacy. We had a five-year plan, but then, we never felt we'd end up like we did last year.''
The Privateers (21-8) start four seniors, and Price knows he will rebuild next season. Being where he's been, he's accustomed to that.
As a player, Price was smart and tough, the latter being important when he became the Hokies' 6-foot-6 sixth man his senior season, replaced by freshman Dale Solomon on Tech's Metro Conference tournament title team.
He'd been a two-year starter for VCU, averaging 13 points in two seasons. He went to Tech because he wanted to play at a higher level, and the Rams still were trying to get into Division I.
He never knew he wanted to coach then, however. He went back to his hometown to find a job after his Tech graduation and prepared for what would be his future by guiding a basketball team with a familiar name.
``I coached a little-league team in Danville. We were called the Tar Heels. We went 14-0.''
He sent out resumes and had his Tech coach, Charlie Moir, and assistant Frankie Allen making calls for him. Finally, Ed Green hired Price to coach Roanoke College's junior varsity in 1980-81.
``I was all excited and called my father to tell him,'' Price said. ``I told him I was going to make $800 a year. He kept saying I must be wrong. He said, `They must mean $800 a week.'''
After paying his dues at Roanoke, UT-Chattanooga and Tech, Price joined Oliver Purnell's staff at Old Dominion. Price left the Monarchs after the '92-93 season to work for Eagles at Auburn. Price thought he was ready to be a head coach, and he thought the Southeastern Conference experience and exposure would help.
Auburn went 11-16, and Eagles was fired. When UNO hired him on the rebound, the chorus wasn't exactly unanimous. That's why, when Eagles died, Price thought he might be packing his bags again.
``He had named me his associate head coach,'' Price said. ``I'd only worked for him for a year, but he treated me like I was a member of his family.''
Price was struggling through a divorce when he moved to Auburn, too. He has a son, Ryan, 11, and there is little doubt about what he is married to now.
``Basketball is my life,'' he said.
Price has the seriousness of a George and the mischievousness of a ``Tic,'' a nickname he got when he made a game-winning basket at the last tick in a youth game. He said there is one thing he's learned to live by in his well-traveled career.
``Don't worry about the things you can't do anything about,'' Price said.
So, one night after learning his first NCAA bid came with an 11th-seeded team, Price sat in his UNO office and counted the phone messages from people back in his home state looking for NCAA tickets.
``I've got 43 slips of paper here,'' he said. ``I don't think I can take care of all of them. My mom did ask me to get Coach Smith's autograph.
``Another thing I learned long ago is to do what your mother asks.''
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Price. color.by CNB