Houston ? When Gary Barnett was mired in scandal earlier this year, the Colorado coach could always count on an encouraging word from longtime friend Mike Price.

Price himself was just emerging from scandal, getting a second chance at Texas-El Paso. So it was from experience that he told Barnett to stay strong, that better days would be ahead.

This season proved to work out just fine for both of them — so well that they’re capping it by coaching against each other today in the Houston Bowl. UTEP (8-3) will be making its first bowl appearance in four years against Colorado (7-5).

“We’re supporting each other 100 percent, and we understood what the other one was going through,” Price said. “In a good way, we kind of lean on each other.”

Barnett’s program was the target of sexual-assault claims dating to 1997, followed by an investigation that discovered sex, alcohol and drugs were used as recruiting tools.

A few months after he was hired at Alabama, Price was fired for allegedly spending a boozy night with strippers. He sat out a season, then began his career makeover at UTEP, which had just six wins during the previous three years and just three winning seasons since 1970.

After a 1-2 start, Price led the Miners to seven straight victories, their first-ever national ranking and first bowl berth since 2000.

“I felt like we could have a winning season,” Price said. “Coming (to the Houston Bowl) is the greatest thing to happen to our program in many, many years.”

This game will be the first time they’ve squared off since becoming friends in 1978, when Barnett was a high school coach in Colorado and Price was an assistant at Missouri.