“It’s time to come home.” That sentence, uttered by Aaron Price on Wednesday, gives the reason why the former UTEP offensive coordinator left his most recent job at Humboldt State (CA) to become the new head coach at El Paso Hanks, his first high school head coaching job.
“This is something I’ve been thinking about a long time,” he said, “Being able to get back here with my family, my daughters and to come to a place like Hanks High School is special. This was the only job I applied for and the only one I was interested in and I’m real excited to get started.”
Price’s name is a familiar one around the Sun City; he is the son of former UTEP head coach Mike Price. Aaron served as his offensive coordinator from 2004-2012. That recognition is something that the administration at Hanks saw in him, but that wasn’t the only thing that stood out in their minds.
“I’m extremely excited because he brings a lot of energy to the job,” said Hanks principal Gloria Spencer, “We had a lot of interesting conversations on what his philosophies are. You take all of his college experience and to hear him say that this is home is amazing.”
That energy was on full display at Price’s introduction on Wednesday. During his opening introduction speech, Price went behind a temporary wall behind the podium and challenged the students to make as much noise as possible. When Price emerged from behind the wall, he was greeted to loud cheers as he worked his way around the room high fiving students, administrators and his new team. That energy also appears to have already resonated with his new team.
“I’m really excited to have him as our coach,” said rising junior offensive lineman David Velez, “I feel we’ll be really successful with him as our coach and I expect us to be a lot better than last year.”
Price walks into the Hanks job with a steep challenge ahead as he replaces Kevin Jones, who compiled a 9-21 record in three seasons at Hanks. The Knights went 0-10 in 2016, marking the first winless season in program history. The team competes in District 2-5A. In order to get that turnaround going, Price is looking from within to start the process.
“There are winners in every kid. We have to find ways to be able to reach down and bring that winning mentality out of them. We need to create excitement with the people we have here that will get the attention of the community and the people around us to say ‘I want to be a part of that.’”
As he steps into this new chapter, Price has made it clear that it feels great to be home.
“I’ve been all over the country the last four or five years in college and I would come back every chance that I could get and I realized that I need to move home. El Paso is where I want to be.”
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