Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is the current head coach of the University of New Mexico Lobo's 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. Alford is married to the former Tonya Frost. They have known each other since grade school. They have three children: Kory(14), Bryce(11) and Kayla(9). Steve serves on the national Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. During the 2003 season at Iowa, Alford established the High Five Club, in which Steve and his family provide 12 tickets to all home games for use by children from the UI Children's Hospital, the Children's Museum and the Ronald McDonald House. In addition, Alford has played a key role in the continuance of the annual Iowa basketball Golf Classic. A portion of the proceeds each year helps support the Chris Street Endowed Scholarship.
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 Bobby Knight and became the university's all time leading scorer with 2,438 points, a record later eclipsed by Calbert Cheaney. Alford was the first player to be named the team's MVP four times. He was also a first team All-American, and was named Big Ten MVP during his senior year of college. In the Legends of College Basketball by The Sporting News Alford was no. 35 on the list of the 100 greatest Division One college basketball players.
During his final three seasons Alford earned first team all-Big Ten honors. He earned all-America honors as a junior. As a sophomore Alford was named to the NIT all-tourney team after the Hoosiers finished second to UCLA. Alford's free throw percentage of .897 (535-596) is fourth best in the history of the NCAA, and as a freshman he led the nation in free throw percentage.
For the 1984 Summer Olympics Alford was selected to play on the U.S. Basketball Team, coached by Bobby 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 men such as 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.
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Basketball | ||
 |
1984 Los Angeles | Basketball |
Glory
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.
Professional
Following college, Alford played for four years at the professional level. During his time in the NBA, he played for the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors. He scored 744 points, had 176 assists, and shot free throws with an accuracy of 87 percent.
Alford had hoped to be drafted by the in-state Indiana Pacers in the 1987 NBA draft. Popular sentiment around the state sided with Alford, hoping the Pacers would select the hometown boy with their first-round pick. Instead, with the 11th pick in the first round the Pacers selected Reggie Miller. The large crowd at the Pacers' draft party booed. Alford slipped to the #3 pick in the second round, and Miller spent 18 years with the Pacers.
Alford co-wrote a book, Playing for Knight -- My Six Seasons with Coach Knight, about his college and Olympic basketball experiences.
Coaching career
After his time in the NBA, Alford began his coaching career.
He started at South Knox High School.
Manchester College Spartans
Alford began his college coaching career in North Manchester, Indiana. He started in 1992 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 SMS, 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 (2000-2001) 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 2001-2002 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 2005-2006 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 he has taken over at Iowa.
During the 2006-2007 season, Alford led the Hawkeyes to a disappointing 8-6 non-conference record (losing to instate rivals Drake and Northern Iowa) and an 9-7 record in a mediocre Big Ten Conference. 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.
New Mexico Lobos
Alford is reported to be named head coach at the University of New Mexico on Friday, March 23, 2007. New Mexico zeroed in on Alford and also talked to Winthrop's Gregg Marshall. New Mexico's president, David Schmidly, was formerly at Texas Tech, home of Alford's college coach, Bob Knight.
Alford said he was looking for a new challenge after going through some tense seasons in Iowa City.
News items
Alford's coaching career at Iowa has faced some controversy, much of it due to the behavior and treatment of former Hawkeye basketball player Pierre Pierce. In 2002, Pierce was charged with felony sexual abuse in an incident involving a female student athlete. At that time, Alford publicly supported Pierce, who ultimately pled guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, served probation, and sat out the 2002-2003 basketball season. Many fans wanted Pierce removed from the team, but Alford allowed Pierce to redshirt and rejoin the team the following season.
In January of 2005, Pierce was involved in an incident with his former girlfriend at her townhouse in West Des Moines, Iowa. According to police reports, Pierce threatened to harm the woman while displaying a kitchen knife, forcibly removed her clothing, and made unwanted sexual advances.
Following confirmation by the police that Pierce was a subject of a criminal investigation, coach Steve Alford dismissed Pierce from the basketball team. Alford stated that "...(Pierce) betrayed the trust we placed in him when he was given a second chance two years ago." At the time, Pierce was leading the team with 17.8 points per game, and he had a total of 1,072 career points. [1]
Pierce appealed Alford's decision to remove him from the team, which was subsequently denied. Pierce was charged with multiple felonies, but he eventually entered into a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to third-degree burglary, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment, and criminal mischief. Pierce was sentenced to four years imprisonment, but he was released after serving 332 days. The controversy surrounding Pierce's first incident followed by his subsequent arrest caused Alford to lose the support of many fans.
When other schools make changes to coaching staff, rumors often surface that Alford will be offered a coaching job at these other schools. Indiana's head coach Bobby Knight was fired in May of 2000 for his treatment of a student who had offended him - which violated the school's "zero tolerance" policy that the administration had adopted in regard to his behavior. At the time there was speculation that Alford would be offered the head coaching job at his alma mater. Alford responded by stating that he intended to remain at Iowa, and after the 2001 season he signed a contract extension that runs until 2009. In September 2006 the University of Iowa announced that Alford's contract has been extended thru June 2011.
On February 16, 2006, Indiana head coach Mike Davis announced his resignation. There was speculation that Indiana was targeting Alford to replace Davis before choosing former University of Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson instead. There was also other speculation that Alford would go to Missouri if offered a job there. Alford released a statement on March 22, 2006 in which he said that he had no intention to leave Iowa. While admitting that other schools had contacted him, Alford said that he had not scheduled interviews with them.
As of March 21, 2007 it is being reported that Steve Alford will be leaving the University of Iowa. He is currently looking to move to New Mexico. No report on who will replace him.
References
- Iowa Men's Basketball: History and Record Book from HawkeyeSports.com, accessed March 13, 2006