UCLA hires New Mexico's Alford
March 30th, 2013, 8:51 am ·
· posted by RYAN KARTJE
LOS ANGELES — Less than a week after Ben Howland’s firing had induced the first changing of the guard in a decade atop UCLA’s storied basketball program, UCLA has hired Steve Alford as its next basketball coach.
After striking out on top mid-major coaches in VCU's Shaka Smart and Butler's Brad Stevens, the UCLA athletic department turned to Alford, whose New Mexico team had been eliminated by Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It was a surprise move on UCLA’s part, considering Alford had signed a 10-year extension with New Mexico just 10 days prior to being named the Bruins’ next coach. That extension would’ve been worth more than $20 million and kept him in Albuquerque until 2023. It also included a $1 million buyout, which would’ve gone into effect as of April 1.
But with an offer to become the Bruins’ 13th basketball coach in school history, Alford, 48, quickly changed his mind.
“I thought this was long-term,” Alford said of his New Mexico job. “I love UNM. I love Albuquerque and New Mexico. … This is truly a leap of faith, decisions like this. It becomes a little bit easier when it’s UCLA. You’re talking about the premier basketball program in the country. To have an opportunity like this, they don’t come around every day.”
Alford’s contract is for seven years and $18.2 million, which works out to $2.6 million per year. He will also receive a $200,000 signing bonus.
With the Lobos, Alford had won back-to-back Mountain West championships and led them to a 29-6 record during the 2012-13 season -- the second-most wins in a season in New Mexico basketball history. His six seasons in Albuquerque had all yielded at least 22 wins, while three of those seasons amounted to NCAA Tournament berths. Known for their tenacious defenses, Alford's last two Lobos teams had ranked in the top 25 in the nation in defensive efficiency.
Alford, however, has been criticized in the past for his lack of postseason success -- also one of the principle criticisms of his predecessor. He's been to just one Sweet 16 appearance during his coaching tenure -- a 1999 berth as coach of Southwest Missouri State. His teams are 5-7 overall in the postseason.
Alford’s struggles in the postseason, however, didn’t seem to be of any concern to UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrerro, who called Alford "the perfect fit".
"We all want to win championships," Guerrero said. "I think Steve gives us a good chance to get us right back on track to help us get there."
Prior to coaching at New Mexico, Alford had been a head coach at Iowa from 1999 to 2007 -- where he won two Big Ten Tournament titles -- at Southwest Missouri State from 1995 to 1999, and at Division III Manchester College from 1991 to 1995.
An Indiana prep star in high school, Alford established himself as one of the best players in Indiana history under the tutelage of legendary Hoosiers coach Bob Knight. During his time in Bloomington, Alford became Indiana's all-time leading scorer (a record that was later eclipsed by Calbert Cheaney) and also was the captain of the Hoosiers' 1987 national championship team. Alford was drafted with the No. 26 pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, but lasted just four years in the league before beginning his coaching career.
In Westwood, Alford will inherit a difficult and complex situation, as the program suffered from falling attendance in the last year of Ben Howland's tenure. Alford will also be tasked with repairing UCLA's recruiting ties in Southern California, as Howland struggled in his final few years to recruit any significant players from the preps hotbed of his home turf in Los Angeles. But there is some reason for optimism when it comes to Alford's recruiting: In his last season at New Mexico, he had five players from Southern California on his roster.
“I believe we sort of lost the connection to the LA market in a way that should not have happened,” Guerrero said. “This is an opportunity for us to get it back.”
“The recruiting in Southern California is of the utmost importance because of the talent that’s there,” Alford added. “I’ve always believed that if you can keep talent close to home, the great talent, that’s always going to be a positive.”
Reviews for Alford’s hire have been mixed from UCLA fans, some hoping for the likes of elite coaches like Louisville's Rick Pitino or Florida's Billy Donovan. By not locking up one of the top candidates available, Alford and UCLA will certainly be under an enormous amount of pressure to win early and often.
But dealing with that pressure and the weight of heavy expectations in a post-John Wooden Westwood is a challenge that, Alford insists, isn’t that challenging for him.
“I’ve been under pressure since I was 16,” Alford said. “There’s not a lot of 16-year-olds playing in front of 10,000 at the high school level. I played for Coach Knight at the college level. I was an Olympian; I won a gold medal in Los Angeles in ‘84. I played in the NBA, and now I’ve got 23 years of coaching experience at a high level. Nobody understands pressure any more than I do. You’re not going to find anyone that’s more competitive than I am or driven towards excellence.”
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