Marshall University Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Co-DC/Defensive Tackles
- Email:
- pricejo@marshall.edu
- Phone:
- 6463
In 2020, Price will begin his ninth season coaching along the defensive line for the Thundering Herd. This season, he will, once again coach Marshall's defensive tackles in addition to serving as co-defensive coordinator.
In 2019, he mentored C-USA first-team selection Channing Hames, who was a force on the inside, amassing 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
He mentored defensive tackle Ryan Bee, who signed a free agent NFL contract following a career that ended following the 2018 season. Bee, who was named the team's defensive MVP, finished No. 10 on the program's career sacks list with 18.5. Bee may need to fight off junior defensive lineman Ty Tyler to stay on the list next season, as Tyler finished 2018 with 9.0 sacks, one shy of becoming the first player since Vinny Curry (2011) with double-digit sack totals. Tyler ranked No. 24 nationally in sacks this season. Price has also helped key a defensive unit that has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher in the past 14 games, a streak that currently stands third nationally.
Bee and Tyler were both second-team All-Conference USA selections at season’s end. For Bee, it was his second such honor after honorable mention acclaim in 2016 and All-Freshman honors in 2015.
From 2013-15, the Herd quarterback pressure produced 100 sacks in 41 games. The 2015 Herd, which finished 10-3 with a St. Petersburg Bowl win, totaled 30 sacks and 101 QB hurries, and Price worked with senior nose tackle Jarquez Samuel, who developed into an All-Conference USA second-team selection. Following that season, he was named Scout.com's Conference USA Recruiter of the Year for his contribution to the Thundering Herd's 2016 recruiting class.
In the previous two seasons, Price tutored one of the league’s top defensive forces in tackle James Rouse, who had bounced back from nearly two years away from the game due to multiple injuries and surgeries. Rouse finished his career with 25 tackles for loss and was a two-time All-C-USA first team pick in 2013 and ‘14.
In 2012, Herd defensive lineman Alex Bazzie was named All-Conference USA third team by Phil Steele.
Price, an All-America and All-Big East Conference defensive lineman at Virginia Tech during his playing days, joined Marshall’s coaching staff in March 2012. In his first season, he coached the defensive line. The following season, he took over Herd defensive tackles.
Price also has had success as the Herd’s recruiter in Virginia, Maryland and the Washington D.C. region.
Price came to Marshall after eight seasons at James Madison, where he also coached the defensive line and served as the staff's defensive run-game coordinator. During his time with the Dukes, JMU defensive linemen were named to an All-Colonial Athletic Association team 16 times and to an All-America team on seven occasions.
Two of Price's players signed NFL contracts, while a third was a sixth-round draft choice. Price helped JMU to five FCS playoff appearances, capturing the national championship in 2004. Statistically, he helped lead a unit that was a mainstay among the national defensive statistical leaders, leading the nation in sacks twice (2004, 2006) and finishing in the top three 10 times. The Dukes' 57 sacks in 2004 were a single-season FCS record.
Prior to his JMU stint, Price was a four-year letterman for Virginia Tech, where he helped the nationally ranked Hokies win a Big East title while earning first-team All-Big East and 1995 All-America third team honors (Associated Press) at defensive tackle. In Price’s final three seasons (1993-95), Tech went 27-9 with two bowl wins, and started the school’s current streak of 23 consecutive seasons with bowl bids.
In his four seasons in Coach Frank Beamer’s program, Price produced 17 sacks and 30 tackles for loss. He was a third-round selection by the Carolina Panthers in the 1996 NFL Draft and was with the Arizona Cardinals for two subsequent seasons before recurring back problems curbed his playing days.
After his playing career, he served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Virginia Tech for two years and then went on to Radford (Va.) High School, where he was defensive line coach and defensive coordinator from 1999-2001. He returned to Blacksburg in 2002, where he served as a graduate assistant coach for the Hokies for two seasons.
Price came to Tech from Dunkirk, Md., where he starred at Northern High School. He earned bachelor's degrees in interdisciplinary studies (1998) and health and education (2002) from Virginia Tech.
Price and his wife, Jennifer – one of the top players in Hokie women’s basketball history – have two daughters, Madison and Riley.
