THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008
SPORTS
7B
Weston White/XANSAN
Senior Erik Morrison heads for home after exchanging a handshake with head coach Ritch Price after sending a shot over the left field wall. Kansas knocked three out of the park Friday afternoon against Tech Tech in a 9-5 victory.
price protégés
Current head coaches who coached under Price Matt Allison - Willamette Josh Blunt - West Valley College Reggie Christiansen - South Dakota State Bret Davis - Porterville College
ing for Price at a bigger baseball school.
So, with a hole in the depth chart at shortstop and Price's blessing, Ritchie followed his father to Kansas. Together, father and son began to build a foundation for the Kansas baseball program.
Tom Kunis - Ohlone College Ed McCann - Centenary Lindsay Meggs - Indiana State Mark O'Brien - Santa Clara Mike Oakland - St. Francis HS Doug Robb - San Jose City College Rick Sabath - Fort Hays State
At the top of Price's to-do list when he got to Kansas was making sure the players from the previous coaching staff still wanted to be Jayhawks. One player's father had called the school on a daily basis to get his son released from his scholarship so he could transfer. When Price arrived, he let the player go, no questions asked. For those who stayed, Price tried to create an atmosphere of togetherness and honored every senior who stayed by putting them on the lettermen list.
With a roster stocked from his old stump grounds of California
In Price's first season, Kansas compiled a 35-28 record, which would be the first of four straight 30-win seasons. Through three seasons, though, Kansas had yet to win a game in the Big 12 Championship and it missed the conference tournament altogether in 2004. But Price received vindication in 2006.
old stomping grounds of California — including Ritchie, a senior, and Ryne, a sophomore — Price guided the Jayhawks to a 43-25 season. It was Kansas' best record since 1993 and the Jayhawks were one game away from their first winning season against Big 12 competition. Still, Kansas got the last laugh against conference foes when it swept the Big 12 Championship to clinch its first NCAA Regional berth since 1994.
"The sense of accomplishment that day, I can't even tell you what that felt like." Price said. "That's the greatest day I've ever spent on the field. To take over a program that had had five straight losing seasons and to have people tell me, 'You can't do it there, you can't win at Kansas. They've never won at Kansas,' to be on national TV, to be in that Triple-A ballpark, to have beaten four consecutive top-25 teams, and to watch our players dog pile on that field was the greatest day I ever spent in coaching."
Price's bliss on the field quickly overflowed off the field. Kansas was selected to play in the West Regional in none other than Corvallis, Ore., just over 30 miles from Sweet Home. While Price was preparing his team to face Hawaii in the regional, almost 200 friends and family members were adding their names to Price's personal pass list to see the coach's homecoming and the Jayhawks win their first game of the tournament, 9-6.
"One of the great experiences for me that weekend was to have two sons on the field, to have my high school coach, my junior college coach, and my four-year coach all there to see my team play," Price said. "I think that was one of the greatest weekends of my life, to personally get a chance to tell an mouse, once again, "Thank you."
Kansas dropped its next two games and was eliminated from the tournament, but a joyous spring continued for the Price family. In addition to Robby's Free State High School team winning the state championship, two days after Kansas' season ended, Ritchie was drafted in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the New York Mets.
After all Price and Ritchie had been through together to build up the Kansas baseball program, the day Ritchie was drafted was a special one for both father and son.
"For any parent whose son plays, that's the culmination of everything they've watched their son do," Price said.
The Mets released Ritchie in 2007, opening the door for him to continue following in his father's footsteps. Ritchie is now an assistant coach at South Dakota State and, since joining the Jackrabbit coaching staff, he now feels closer than ever to Price.
"i probably talk to him a lot more now than I did as a player," Ritchie said. "I'll talk to him probably three
times a week and ask him question on things and he gives me his input"
Ritchie isn't the only success story to emerge during Price's time at Kansas.
The last four years Kansas has had at least four players drafted. One such player was Don Czyz, who was drafted the same day as Ritchie. Czyz came to Kansas as a pitcher with an 84 mph fastball. He left as the best closer in the nation with a 94 mph fastball. Bo Czyz, Don's father, said Don was grateful to this day that Price stuck with him.
"Coach Price, and he's said it before, guided him and said, 'Maybe you should go to a junior college and work elsewhere,' Czyz said. "And Donnie told him, 'I came here to Kansas and I'm going to stay in Kansas. If I can't play baseball here, I'm not going to play.' So, coach Price and coach (Steve) Abney worked very close and gave him that opportunity."
Even Price's former players who found careers outside of baseball are leading productive lives. Former pitcher Kodiak Quick has taken over part of his father's business and former pitcher Ricky Fairchild is becoming a financial investor while former player Matt Baty is climbing the administrative ladder in the Kansas Athletics Department.
For Price, there's nothing more rewarding than having his former players excel, regardless of the career path they follow. Two years ago, when Kansas last played at Stanford, 25 of Price's former players showed up to show him their children.
Price said. "What you learn through the experience years later is that it isn't about the game, it's about the relationships within the game that make athletics so special."
Since that magical 2006 season, PricehasreliedlessonhisCalifornian recruiting roots — although Robby, now in his sophomore season, has joined Ryne, a senior — and now puts more emphasis on recruiting the best players in Kansas and the surrounding Midwest.
"When I first started coaching, I thought it was all about the game,"
However, Price has yet to reload his program with the caliber of seniors he had in 2006. Kansas didn't qualify for the Big 12 Championship last season and is in danger of doing the same this season.
That hasn't kept Price from receiving national acclaim. This summer Price will serve as an assistant coach for the USA National Team during its summer tour.
Players Price coached who reached the Major Leagues Kevin Correia - San Francisco Giants Ryan Hancock - Anaheim Angels Bret Hemphill - Anaheim Angels Travis Metcalf - Texas Rangers Jason Simontacchi - St. Louis Cardinals/Washington Nationals Mike Zagurski - Philadelphia Phillies
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That also hasn't quieted the whispers that Price might someday return the West coast.
Last fall, Price was rumored to be a candidate for the coaching vacancy at Oregon — located just 40 miles from Sweet Home — after the school reinstated its baseball program, which had been dormant since the 1981 season. Price said he was never contacted by Oregon and insisted that if he had it wouldn't have mattered.
Since Lew Perkins became the Kansas Athletics Director in June 2003, Price has had no reason to consider leaving. If not for Perkins, Price said he already have left.
Thanks to Perkins' shared commitment to fundraising, Price has been able to improve Kansas' baseball facilities dramatically. In 2005, an indoor hitting facility was built beside Hogland Ballpark. In 2006, a 16-foot-by-28-foot video board was added to the right field scoreboard. Next season, Kansas will move into its 6,500-square foot clubhouse, for which construction is already underway beside the first base bleachers.
For Perkins, it hasn't been difficult providing funds to such a devoted coach.
"I say this all the time and I absolutely believe it — coach Price is the best Division I baseball coach in the country," Perkins said in an email. "He is not only a great coach, but a great person. I knew from the start that he is exactly the person we want to be coaching Kansas baseball and I couldn't be happier that he's here."
The numbers don't lie. Price has the highest winning percentage among Kansas skippers who have coached at least 100 games. He's two victories shy of No. 200 at Kansas and is on pace to move into second on Kansas' all-time wins list by 2010. He could very well be
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price's pride & joy
Records held by Price's sons at Kansas Ritchie Price (2003-2006) Career Games - 255 Career Hits - 312 Career Runs - 204 *Holds four other school records Ryne Price (2005-Present) Career Home Runs - 33 Single-season Hit By Pitch - 19 Robby Price (2007-Present) Single-season Sacrifices - 22 Career Sacrifices - 36
www.ContinuingEd.ku.edu
But Price has never been about personal records. From his days as a youngster, hustling around the bases, he's always been team-oriented. Price's goal now is to feel the same jubilation he felt on that May afternoon in Oklahoma City when his team clinched an NCAA Regional berth. Only this time he wants it to be in June.
"The next one will be when we get to Omaha," Price said. "That'll be the next greatest accomplishment. It'll be easier to do that than it was to win the first one."
he winningest baseball coach in Kansas history by 2015.
And what a day that will be for the coach who made a career out of taking over programs nobody else wanted.
"This is it for me. I've had chances to go other places since I've been here. I didn't want to leave. This is where I intend to finish my career," Price said. "I tell people, 'I have one of the hardest jobs in America. I also have one of the best jobs in America.'"
—Edited by Sasha Roe
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