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Alford Hiring Press Conference Steve Alford is far from being a rookie head coach, having patrolled the sidelines for 17 seasons at four institutions. However, his maiden voyage as the leading man at the University of New Mexico made a helluva first impression to everyone around Lobo basketball.
First, a look back at what Alford inherited upon being named the program's 19th head coach on March 23, 2007:
Fast forward to late March of 2008 and Alford's length of accomplishments in just 12 months at UNM are historical: Arguably the biggest accomplishment for Alford was his ability to teach, blend and mold an undersized and possibly less talented group into a cohesive unit that became the epitome of "team" basketball. He changed the mindset and work ethic of the program and the Lobos responded by playing the game "the right way." That concept was never more evident than in the play of senior J.R. Giddens. Before Alford came to town, Giddens was seen as an enigmatic talent with a ton of potential, but not a difficult teammate and a tough player to coach. Alford laid down the law to Giddens immediately, keeping Giddens home from a spring trip to the Bahamas so he could concentrate on his floundering academic situation. Giddens got the message and became the consummate teammate, a transformation so dramatic that it left fans and pundits shaking their heads in amazement. Alford took a wayward - but extremely gifted - young man and tutored him into maturity on and off the floor. Largely responsible for the Lobos' improved play, Giddens was co-player of the year in the league, District VIII Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association and an Associated Press honorable mention All-American. The 6-foot-5 Giddens became the first guard to lead the MWC in rebounding. He and Andrew Bogut (a 7-footer) are the only two players in the 9-year history of the league to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding in MWC games.
Despite ranking 8th in the league in minutes played at 32.2, Giddens was the only player in the MWC who ranked in the top-10 in the MWC in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, assists, steals and blocks. He is the only Lobo to ever reach 500 points, 250 rebounds, 100 assists, 40 steals and 30 blocks in a season. Giddens' diligence was rewarded on June 26, 2008, when he was selected by the world champion Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Draft. Surprisingly, it's the first Alford-coached player chosen in the first round. The remarkable turnaround by Alford and his staff did not go unnoticed by the UNM administration. UNM Vice-President for Athletics Paul Krebs announced on March 31, 2008, that a contract extension for Alford had been agreed to in principal. The three-year extension will keep Alford on the Lobo sidelines through the 2015-16 season. "This is another example of what I have said all along - that I am committed to being a Lobo," stated Alford on March 31. "I would like to thank UNM President Dr. David Schmidly and Paul Krebs for showing their support of the job my staff and I have done to this point. With the upcoming renovations to The Pit and our success in year one, we are well on our way to making Lobo basketball a big-time program again." Alford, 43, came to UNM after spending the past eight seasons as the head coach at the University of Iowa. He is 332-192 (63%) after 17 seasons as a head coach. In somewhat of a rarity, Alford has never been anything but a head coach at the collegiate level. His first position came at Manchester College at the age of 27 following a stint in the NBA. Alford's teams have qualified for postseason play 11 times, produced 13 winning seasons and reached 20 wins on nine occasions. In eight seasons at Iowa, Alford compiled a 152-106 record with a school-record seven consecutive winning seasons, and six postseason appearances. The Hawkeyes won two Big Ten Conference tournament titles (2001 and '06). Alford led Iowa to a 25-9 record in 2005-06, winning the Big Ten Conference tournament for the second time. The 25 wins ranks as the second highest victory total ever at Iowa. The NCAA Tournament bid was Iowa's third under Alford. The Hawkeyes also competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and 2005. Iowa went 17-0 at home in 2006, setting a school record, while posting the first undefeated home season in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which opened in 1983. Iowa's 18-game home win streak, dating back to the final home game of the 2005 season, is also an arena record. The Hawkeyes established another first in Iowa basketball in 2006 with 10 wins over top-25 opponents. Iowa went an impressive 10-4 against top-25 teams, with seven of those wins coming at home. In 2004-05, the Hawkeyes spent nine consecutive weeks in the national rankings, moving as high as No. 14 in January. Iowa was the only team in the nation to face all four participants in that year's Final Four. The Hawkeyes defeated Louisville, split two games with Michigan State, lost once to North Carolina and fell twice to Illinois, including an overtime loss in Champaign. Wins over Louisville, Texas Tech and Michigan State gave the Hawkeyes three wins over Sweet 16 teams for the first time since 1991. Alford led his 2001-02 Iowa squad to 19 wins and a top-10 national ranking through the first half of the season. The Hawkeyes made a second straight run through the Big Ten Tournament. Playing as the No. 9 seed, Iowa opened the tourney with a win over Purdue before defeating Wisconsin in the quarterfinals and Indiana in the semifinals, thus knocking off two of the co-Big Ten champions on back-to-back days. Ohio State took control over the final 10 minutes of the championship game to keep Iowa from winning its second straight tournament title. With a young and inexperienced team that was forced to adjust to the loss of two key players, Alford guided his 2000-01 Iowa team to the Big Ten Tournament title. Playing as a six seed, Iowa won four games in four days to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Once in the tournament, the Hawkeyes advanced to the second round before falling to second-seeded Kentucky. Iowa concluded the 2001 season with a 23-12 overall record.
The Alford era at the University of Iowa began in impressive fashion in 1999-2000, as the Hawkeyes scored a 70-68 win over Connecticut in the season opener. The win over the top-ranked Huskies, the defending NCAA champions, came in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Alford was named men's basketball coach at the University of Iowa on March 22, 1999, and he immediately made a solid impact on the program. Every home game was sold out in 2000-01 and 2001-02, marking just the fourth and fifth seasons since Carver-Hawkeye Arena opened in 1983 that all tickets were sold for all games. Prior to Iowa, Alford posted a 78-29 record in four seasons (1992-95) at NCAA Division III Manchester (Ind.) College and a four-year (1996-99) record of 78-48 at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). The Bears defeated Wisconsin and Tennessee to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 1999 NCAA Tournament before losing to top-ranked Duke in the regional semifinals. In 1997 Alford led the Bears to a 24-9 record (second in the Missouri Valley Conference) and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament. The Bears were 16-12 in Alford's first season at the Division I level in 1995-96. In 1997-98 Southwest Missouri won 12 of its final 18 games, posting a record of 16-16 while advancing to the title game of the MVC postseason tournament for the second straight season. Alford joined the collegiate coaching ranks at Manchester (Ind.) College in 1992, taking over a team that had lost its first eight games. After winning four of 20 games that season, Alford led Manchester to a 20-8 mark in his first full year of 1992-93. The following season Manchester was 23-4 followed by a 31-1 mark in his fourth and final season. Manchester won three straight conference tournament titles from 1993-95, advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament all three seasons. Manchester advanced to the 1995 NCAA Division III championship game before suffering its first defeat in 32 games to place second in the nation. Alford was named Indiana Collegiate Conference coach of the year in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and his record was 74-13 over his final three seasons. Alford was inducted into the Manchester College M Association Hall of Fame in 1999. The 1994-95 Manchester team was also inducted in recognition for its outstanding season. Alford began his coaching career after a four-year playing stint in the NBA, spending most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks and a portion of one season with Golden State. He was the 26th selection in the 1987 NBA Draft. Alford played for former Iowa basketball standout Don Nelson in the NBA. A native of New Castle, Ind., Alford was a prep standout for his father, Sam Alford, at New Castle Chrysler High School. He earned Indiana's Mr. Basketball Award in 1983 after averaging 37.7 points per game as a senior. During his collegiate career at Indiana, Alford started all but five of 125 games, helping the Hoosiers post a four-year mark of 92-35. Alford served as head coach Bob Knight's team captain in 1987 when Indiana posted a 30-4 overall record and won the national championship. Alford concluded his college career as Indiana's all-time scoring leader with 2,438 points and he became the first player to win the Indiana MVP award four times. He is also Indiana's career leader in steals and 3-point field goal percentage. Alford was a consensus first team all-America selection and the Big Ten MVP as a senior. Alford earned first team all-Big Ten honors in each of his final three seasons and also earned all-America honors as a junior. He was named to the NIT all-tourney team as a sophomore when the Hoosiers finished second to UCLA. His career free throw percentage of .897 (535-596) ranks fourth best in NCAA history and he led the nation in free throw percentage as a freshman. Alford was named to the all-tournament team at the 1987 NCAA Final Four and to the NCAA tournament all-decade team for the 1980s. He set an NCAA Final Four record when he made 7 of 10 3-point baskets in the 1987 championship game victory over Syracuse. In 1997, Alford was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame and in 2001 he was one of 15 players selected to Indiana's all-Century team. He was one of five players named to ESPN's Big Ten Conference Silver Anniversary team in 2004. The Sporting News recently published Legends of College Basketball, a publication that recalled the careers of the 100 greatest Division I college basketball players. Alford was No. 35 on the list. Following his freshman season at Indiana, Alford was selected to play for the United States basketball team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He shot 64.4% percent from the field, averaged 10.3 points per game and was second on the team in assists as the U.S. collegians won the gold medal. The 1984 team marked the last U.S. amateur squad to win the gold medal and Alford's teammates included Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Chris Mullin and Waymon Tisdale. Alford was born Nov. 23, 1964, in Franklin, Ind. He holds a bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University. Alford is married to the former Tanya Frost, whom he has known since the two were schoolmates in grade school in New Castle. The Alfords have three children: Kory, Bryce and Kayla. WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT STEVE ALFORD
"There's no doubt in my mind that it will be a great marriage, New Mexico and Steve Alford. I've known Steve for a long time through my association with Indiana University and coaching and playing against his teams. Knowing him well and loving the University of New Mexico, it will work. Steve's hire brings immediate credibility to the University of New Mexico."
"Steve Alford is one of the finest people I know. He will do things right at New Mexico and will energize their program. He is a great national recruiter and will bring an exciting style of basketball to the Lobos. Congratulations to him and his family."
"New Mexico is getting a great coach and a tremendous man. He is salt of the earth, a class act and represents everything that is good about collegiate athletics. This is a gold-medal hire."
"New Mexico made a great hire in Steve Alford. He will bring instant credibility to the Lobo basketball program. His track record of success as both a player and coach speaks for itself. I have great respect for coach Alford as a person and when the team, university and the fans meet him, they will too. He is one of the stars in the collegiate coaching ranks."
"I look forward to Steve Alford joining the University of New Mexico and the Mountain West Conference for a number of reasons. He has a proven and valuable track record in the NCAA men's basketball tournament both as a player and as a coach. In addition, he has been above reproach in successfully guiding other high-quality basketball programs and does it with honorable student-athletes."
Craig Thompson, Commissioner
"The University of New Mexico just created its first upset before ever playing a game. What a great hire for the Lobos-this guy can really coach. The university, the state, the team and the fans just got someone special. Steve Alford is the best human being I've ever been around."
Steve Alford's Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record
Steve Alford Quick Facts
Personal
Playing Experience 1984 USA Olympic Basketball Team (gold medal)
1987-88 Dallas Mavericks (NBA)
Coaching Experience
Honors as a player
All-America, 1986, 1987 |
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