BANGOR – A few too many drives to Bar Harbor, reflection on the events of Sept. 11, and time spent away from the football field have sparked Jonathan “Gabby” Price’s drive to return to the sidelines.

Price, who served two head coaching stints with the Bangor High School football team – resurrecting the Bangor program in 1992 and coaching the Rams until his retirement in 2000, will get that chance with another football program.

Husson College announced Wednesday that its board of trustees has unanimously approved football as an intercollegiate sport, with Price on board as the head coach. The school’s goal is to have a team in place for the fall 2003 season, more than 60 years since the former Maine School of Commerce stopped playing the sport.

The plan was approved by the board of trustees in a Monday meeting, Husson president Bill Beardsley said during a news conference at the school’s Webber Campus Center.

The school’s next challenges: joining a conference, organizing a schedule, recruiting a team, filling out the coaching staff, and finding (or building) a place to play.

Husson president Bill Beardsley, who introduced Price, said the 52-year-old Bangor resident is the right person to get a team together in time for the target season.

“If Husson is going to hit the ground running, we need a real champion as a coach, a man who has character and leadership abilities, a man who knows Maine athletes and how to lead them to victory, a man who loves Husson, knows football, and simply loves the game,” said Beardsley, reading from a statement. “We have found that champion.”

And Price is eager to get started in the college ranks.

“I’ve got a lot to learn,” said Price, who donned a green and yellow Husson baseball cap during his remarks and encouraged the Husson men’s basketball team to beat St. Joseph’s in a game Wednesday, drawing laughter and applause from several members of the basketball team in attendance.

“I’m willing to learn and I’m going to talk to a lot of people,” Price added. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make it a great outfit. … It’s going to take a great effort from a lot of people.”

The Husson administration believes its football program will fill a niche it feels is not currently met in Maine.

The University of Maine is the only Division I football program in the state. Maine Maritime Academy of Castine, Colby College in Waterville, Bates College in Lewiston, and Bowdoin College in Brunswick are all Division III programs.

According to Husson’s numbers, there are plenty of high school football players who don’t go on to the collegiate level. Of the approximately 800 football players who graduated in 2001, 60 played college ball in Maine this past fall.

“Obviously, and this is a tribute to UMO, most kids aren’t quite at that level,” Price said. “Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin certainly have tremendous programs, but they’re unique because of some academic requirements. Maine Maritime, we don’t feel we’re in competition with them because they’re really a type of engineering school.

“We think what Husson has to offer, criminal justice, business, health care, those type of things, education now, sports management, that we can attract some kids. Obviously there’s no sure thing. And not just Maine. We’re going to recruit in other places. We think there’s a need for Division III in the state of Maine and if that means other areas, then great.”

Finding a conference will be the school’s biggest challenge, Beardsley said.

Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin play in the 11-team New England Small College Athletic Conference. Maine Maritime is a member of the 13-team New England Football Conference.

Beardsley doesn’t envision Husson joining the NESCAC, which he said has been the same for a number is years and will probably be closed to new members. Beardsley spoke to Maine Maritime Academy president Len Tyler Wednesday morning and plans to meet with other college presidents in the search for a conference affiliation.

“That’s where I’m going to be putting in my lion’s share of the effort, working with the college presidents to persuade them that we are a fit partner,” he said. “There are several ways of getting to play ball and we are going to turn over all those stones.”

Beardsley would not disclose specific numbers, but said the football budget would come from student tuition.

“We’ve done a feasibility study and the money will come from the students that we enroll,” he said. “We’d be enrolling students who otherwise would not be here. They will be bringing resources with them. … It’s pretty reasonably priced and it’s going to pay its way.”

That leaves the matter of a field. There is plenty of space on Husson’s campus in Bangor, and Price joked Wednesday that any stadium donor who wanted to come forward wouldn’t be turned away.

Last October the University of Southern Maine in Gorham scrapped plans to start a football program because it was unable to procure the $2.1 million in start-up costs, including a multi-purpose athletic field.

Bangor went 60-27-1 and won two gold balls (1979 and 1981) in Price’s initial run as head coach from 1976 through 1984. Following a seven-year hiatus, Price compiled a 69-25 mark from 1992 to 2000 while leading Bangor to the playoffs eight times in nine seasons.

Price also owns two Bangor convenience stores, Seamus’s and The Corner Store.

Husson has been thinking about football for three years, but Price only got involved with the Braves in October when James Doughty, the former Bangor School Department superintendent and current Husson Dean for education, asked Price to look at some of the details of the Husson program.

Doughty also asked Price to consider taking the head coach position. With the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and a touch of retirement ennui in the back of his mind, Price mulled over the offer.

“The events of the fall … if you work, you might as well do what you like and what you love,” Price said. “And I love football. I knew I had to do something different. And there’s only so many times you can go to Bar Harbor. My wife and I went to Bar Harbor about 40 times.”

Husson women’s soccer coach Keith Bosley, who was the Bangor High boys soccer coach for a time while Price was coaching Bangor football, is excited to have Price on the Husson staff.

“Bill told the staff yesterday [about the football program] and when he told us Gabby was associated with it, any questions we had were answered,” Bosley said. “Gabby and I have been longtime friends, our daughters are friends. I was the boys soccer coach, and as the football coach, he was incredibly supportive of me. Now we’ll have something to talk about at The Corner Store, too, when we’re standing around reading the newspaper and drinking coffee.”

Husson previously had a football team from 1932 until the early World War II years when the college was known as the Maine School of Commerce. The team was known as the Penmen and the roster included former Old Town High teacher and coach Bernie MacKenzie, who coached former New England Patriots skipper Dick MacPherson. The Old Town gymnasium is named for MacKenzie.