JASON GETZ / AP
	While their Dad Mike Price (middle) took the heat for his indiscretion, Eric and Aaron have had a tough time getting back in football.

Turned out, it was a launch to a year off. "Free fall" not only described their father's plight, but the sons' autumn workload.

"We bought a motor home," said Mike Price. "The three of us went together on it. We went to pro camps, college practices, games, just kind of worked the network."

Mike Price was fired at Alabama for his infamous night in a strip club, and when Mike Shula replaced him, Shula filled the sons' positions on the new staff. Both married, Eric and Aaron Price were compensated and continued to live in Tuscaloosa, but tried to keep their names prominent in the coaching fraternity.

"Everywhere they went, they were welcomed with open arms," said Mike Price. "The University of Washington was great. (Coach) Keith Gilbertson welcomed them, they talked to (ex-coach) Don James for about an hour.

"They went to places they normally don't go. Florida, Mack Brown (Texas coach), they met (ESPN's) Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso. They tailgated for the first time. They went to a game without a lump in their gut."

Not that it was always easy, never knowing when a snicker about their father's misadventures could be just around the corner.

"Sometimes it was hard for them to do," Price said. "But I think the thing they found out was, there's a lot of support for us in the coaching community. A lot."

One place Eric and Aaron didn't visit was Texas-El Paso, which hired their dad Dec. 21.

"Probably should have," said Mike.

Now, one or both sons are expected to join Price's UTEP staff. As 2004 begins, the Price kids are selling the motor home in Alabama and looking for something more stationary.

Said Mike Price, surveying the past year, "It was grim. When I was going through it, I thought it was a horrible thing. (But) we've got a lot to be thankful for."