Steve Alford

Steve Alford
Steve Alford
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	New Mexico
Biographical details
Born	November 23, 1964 (1964-11-23)
Place of birth	Franklin, Indiana, USA
Playing career
1983–1987 1987–1988 1988–1989 1989–1991	Indiana University Dallas Mavericks Golden State Warriors Dallas Mavericks
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991–1995 1995–1999 1999–2007 2007–present	Manchester Southwest Missouri State Iowa New Mexico
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA National Championship (1987) Big Ten Tournament Championship (2001, 2006) MWC Regular Season Championship (2009 and 2010)

Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is a retired American basketball player and the current head coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team. Alford, a former college basketball star and NBA player, was born in Franklin, Indiana and he grew up in New Castle, Indiana.

Biography

Playing career

High school

Alford played basketball at the high school level for his father, Sam Alford, who was coach at New Castle Chrysler High School in New Castle. As a high school senior, he averaged 37.7 points per game helping him earn the title of Indiana's Mr. Basketball in 1983.

College

Alford attended Indiana University. During his time there, he played basketball under head coach Bob Knight. At Indiana, Alford became the university's all time leading scorer with 2,438 points - a record later eclipsed by Calbert Cheaney (who eventually went on to become the Big Ten's all time leading scorer). Alford was the first player to be named the team's MVP four times. He was also a first team All-American, and was the named Big Ten MVP during the 1986-87 season. In the Legends of College Basketball by The Sporting News Alford was #35 on the list of the 100 greatest Division-I college basketball players. When The Sporting News named its top ten NCAA basketball players of the 1980s in December 1989, Alford was listed at number ten.

During his final three seasons, Alford earned first team all-Big Ten honors. As a freshman, he helped lead Indiana to an upset of the Michael Jordan led North Carolina Tar Heels in the 1984 NCAA tournament. As a sophomore Alford was named to the NIT All-Tournament team after the Hoosiers finished second behind UCLA. He earned All-America honors as a junior.

In 1987, Alford led the Hoosiers to the NCAA Championship Game against Syracuse. The Hoosiers won the game on a late baseline jumpshot by Indiana guard Keith Smart. Alford did his part, shooting 7–10 from the 3-point line, scoring 23 points. It was Indiana's fifth National Championship in program history.

Olympics

Olympic medal record
Men's basketball
Competitor for the United States
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	Basketball

For the 1984 Summer Olympics Alford was selected to play on the U.S. basketball team, coached by Bob Knight. Alford averaged 10.3 points per game, was second in assists, and shot .644 from the field. He and his teammates went on to win the gold medal at the 1984 games. In this game Alford played alongside Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins, Chris Mullin and Wayman Tisdale. Alford has recounted that during the Olympic training camp, Jordan bet him $100 that he would not last four years on Knight's Indiana team.

Professional

Many fans in Indiana expected Alford to be drafted by the Indiana Pacers, but the Pacers selected Reggie Miller instead, and Alford fell to the Dallas Mavericks. Alford played in the NBA for four seasons, mostly with the Dallas Mavericks, though he spent a portion of one season with Golden State Warriors. Over the course of his career, he started three games, scored 744 points, had 176 assists, and shot free throws with an accuracy of 87 percent.

Coaching career

Manchester College Spartans

Alford began his college coaching career in North Manchester, Indiana. He started in 1991 as head coach of the Division III Manchester College's basketball program. During his four seasons with the team, Alford had a record of 78–29. When Alford began coaching that team, the team had lost its first eight games. During his first season there Alford won four of 20 games. In his first full season as coach the team posted a record of 20–8. In the next season Manchester posted a record of 23–4, and in his fourth and final season his team posted a record of 31–1.

In 1994 and 1995 Manchester won conference titles, and in Alford's final three seasons the team competed in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Under Alford, the team won three straight conference tournament titles (1993, 1994, 1995). The team advanced to the Division III championship game in 1995, placing second in the nation after suffering its first defeat in 32 games.

In 1993, 1994, and 1995 Alford was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year. In the 1994-95 season the Manchester team was inducted into the school Hall of Fame. In 1999 Alford was also inducted into Manchester's Hall of Fame.

Southwest Missouri State Bears

Following his time at Manchester, Alford was named the head coach at Southwest Missouri State University. He began his position there in the 1995-96 season, and would remain there until 1999. During his time at Missouri State, his teams posted a 78–48 record. In 1999 the Bears advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Duke.

Iowa Hawkeyes

Steve Alford was named the head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball program on March 22, 1999.

Although Alford's first game as coach was a 70–68 victory against the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies at Madison Square Garden, his team went 14-16 during his first season at Iowa. During his second year (2000–01) the Hawkeyes went 23–12 in the regular season and 7–9 in the Big Ten Conference regular season, but they won the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament with four straight wins against Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana. This earned them a #7 seed in the 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, where they defeated Creighton in the first round but lost to Kentucky in the second round.

The Hawkeyes' conference record dropped to 5–11 during the 2001–02 season, but they defeated Purdue, Wisconsin, and Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament before losing to Ohio State in the finals. The Hawkeyes played in the National Invitation Tournament that season, but lost to LSU in the first round to finish with a 19–16 record. This was the first of three straight seasons that the Hawkeyes played in the NIT under Alford. They won the first two rounds of the 2003 tournament against Valparaiso and Iowa State before losing to Georgia Tech, finishing with a 17–14 record. In 2004 they lost to St. Louis in the first round of the NIT to finish 16–13 despite a 9–7 conference record (the first winning Big Ten Conference record under Alford).

The Hawkeyes finished 21-12 with a 7-9 conference record in the 2004-2005 regular season, but they won their first two Big Ten Tournament games against Purdue and Michigan State before losing the third game to Wisconsin, 59-56. They earned an at-large invitation to the 2005 NCAA Tournament as a #10 seed, where they lost 76-64 to Cincinnati in the first round. During the season, leading scorer Pierre Pierce was dismissed from the team amid charges of sexual abuse; Pierce ultimately served one year in prison.

During the 2005–06 season, the Hawkeyes went undefeated at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and finished in a second-place tie with Illinois with an 11-5 conference record, one game behind Ohio State. However, the Hawkeyes defeated Minnesota, Michigan State, and Ohio State to win the Big Ten Tournament and finish 25-8 going into its third NCAA Tournament under Alford. They were seeded #3 in the Atlanta Regional of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, but lost in a first-round upset to #14 seed Northwestern State 64-63, leaving Alford with only one NCAA Tournament win since taking over at Iowa.

During the 2006–2007 season, Alford led the Hawkeyes to an 8–6 non-conference record (losing to in-state rivals Drake and Northern Iowa) and an 9–7 record in the Big Ten Conference (17-14 overall). Iowa failed to make the NCAA tournament or the NIT. It marked the first time since the 1976–1977 season that an Iowa team with a winning record has failed to make either the NCAA tournament or the NIT.

At the conclusion of the 2006–2007 season, Alford resigned from the University of Iowa to accept the coaching position at the University of New Mexico.

New Mexico Lobos

Alford was named head coach at the University of New Mexico on March 23, 2007 replacing the fired Ritchie McKay. In his first year as the Lobos coach Alford posted a record of 24–9, 11–5 in league play. Twenty-four wins is the most for a New Mexico head coach in their first year. The Lobos were led by future 1st round Boston Celtics draft pick J. R. Giddens. The Lobos were eliminated in the first round of the NIT by Cal.

In his second season, led by seniors Daniel Faris, Tony Danridge and Chad Toppert, Alford guided the Lobos to their first conference championship in 15 years. He earned the MWC coach of the year award for his team's performance. Alford also set a record for most wins in the first two seasons for a UNM head coach. Alford and his New Mexico squad fell just short of the NCAA tourney and ended up with their second consecutive NIT bid. They won a first round home game against Nebraska and lost on a last second buzzer beater on the road to Notre Dame.

His third year, coaching a mostly young, untested team, Alford's Lobos nevertheless won the regular season MWC title for the second year in a row, were ranked in the top 15 for the majority of the year, and earned a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the team's first bid since 2005. In the first round, they survived a tough game against Montana 62–57, but despite Dairese Gary's 28 points, fell in the second round to an upstart Washington side. At the end of the season Coach Alford received a ten year contract extension through the 2019–20 season.

Controversy

In the 2010 season during a post-game handshake line, Alford had a confrontation with a BYU forward player in which Alford called him an "extremely vulgar" name, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Manchester (Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) (1991–1995)
1991–92	Manchester	4–16	3–11	T–6th
1992–93	Manchester	20–8	7–5	T–2nd	NCAA D–III 1st Round
1993–94	Manchester	23–4	10–2	1st	NCAA D–III 1st Round
1994–95	Manchester	31–1	12–0	1st	NCAA D–III Runner-up
Manchester:		78–29	32–18
Southwest Missouri State (Missouri Valley Conference) (1995–1999)
1995–96	Southwest Missouri State	16–12	11–7	4th
1996–97	Southwest Missouri State	24–9	12–6	T–2nd	NIT 1st Round
1997–98	Southwest Missouri State	16–16	11–7	T–3rd
1998–99	Southwest Missouri State	22–11	11–7	T–2nd	NCAA Sweet 16
Southwest Missouri State:		78–48	45–27
Iowa (Big Ten Conference) (1999–2007)
1999–00	Iowa	14–16	6–10	T–7th
2000–01	Iowa	23–12	7–9	T–6th	NCAA 2nd Round
2001–02	Iowa	19–16	5–11	T–8th	NIT 1st Round
2002–03	Iowa	17–14	7–9	T–8th	NIT 2nd Round
2003–04	Iowa	16–13	9–7	4th	NIT 1st Round
2004–05	Iowa	21–12	7–9	7th	NCAA 1st Round
2005–06	Iowa	25–9	11–5	T–2nd	NCAA 1st Round
2006–07	Iowa	17–14	9–7	T–4th
Iowa:		152–106	61–67
New Mexico (Mountain West Conference) (2007–present)
2007–08	New Mexico	24–9	11–5	3rd	NIT 1st Round
2008–09	New Mexico	22–12	12–4	T–1st	NIT 2nd Round
2009–10	New Mexico	30–5	14–2	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2010–11	New Mexico	22–13	8–8	5th	NIT 2nd Round
2011–12	New Mexico	18–4	4–2
New Mexico:		116–43	49–21
Total:		424–226
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season & conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

External links

• Steve Alford's Biography on GoLobos.com
• Career Statistics
• Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profile