UCLA Hires Steve Alford as Basketball Coach, He Has Big Job Ahead

Saturday, 30 March 2013

Steve Alford, who spent the last six seasons at New Mexico, will take over the basketball program at UCLA less than two weeks after saying how happy he was to be signing a contract extension to remain coach of the Lobos.

The hiring came at the end of a hectic week in which two other mid-major coaches — Butler's Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart — said they weren't interested in the job, according to a person close to the situation who was not authorized to speak on the matter.

The hiring came at the end of a hectic week in which two other mid-major coaches — Butler's Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart — said they weren't interested in the job, according to a person close to the situation who was not authorized to speak on the matter.

After his seven-year, $18.2 million deal with U.C.L.A. was announced, Alford said in a teleconference that he loved New Mexico, the university and his team. He said he loved Albuquerque, and that his family did, too.

Alford was 155-52 at New Mexico, though his Lobos teams never made it past the first weekend in three NCAA tournament appearances. He had signed a 10-year contract extension, worth more than $20 million, earlier this month, but opted to take on the UCLA job.

"This is truly a leap of faith," said Alford, 48. "It's a little easier when it's UCLA. An opportunity like this doesn't come around every day."

"I don't think there is anyone better suited for the pressures that come with the job than Steve," Guerrero said.

Asked if he could handle the pressure, Alford pointed to his decorated high school career, his participation in the 1984 Summer Olympics for the United States, his four seasons at Indiana under Bob Knight and his 22 years as a college coach.

“So nobody understands pressure any more than I do,” he said.

Guerrero said: “He’s not the kind of guy that will shy away from what U.C.L.A. basketball is all about. He’ll handle the expectations with dignity, with understanding and with class.”

Alford started his coaching career in 1991 at Manchester College, a Division III program in Indiana. He made stops at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), Iowa and then New Mexico, where he went 155-52 but lost to Harvard in the opening round this season.

At U.C.L.A., Alford’s “first order of business,” Guerrero said, would be to re-establish the program’s recruiting presence in Southern California. That connection, which was “critically important,” had been lost, Guerrero said.

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