The rise of Steve Alford and New Mexico; Bob Bowlsby quoted

By Mark Emmons

San Jose Mercury News

(MCT)

Steve Alford always figured he someday would become a basketball coach. But after winning an Olympic gold medal and NCAA title at Indiana, he also was hoping for a lengthy NBA playing career.

"I wish I could have played a lot longer," said Alford, whose four years in the pros included one season as a Warriors reserve. "I was hoping I'd get the chance to call the Bay Area home."

That didn't happen, but it all worked out for Alford anyway.

Just 45, he already is in his 19th year as a college head coach - and this has been a breakthrough season. Alford's New Mexico team is 29-4 and ranked eighth in the country.

The No. 3 Lobos enter Thursday's first-round game against No. 14 seed Montana at HP Pavilion as a trendy pick to advance deep into the NCAA Tournament.

"The players already have gone way beyond any expectations I had for them," Alford said. "Even though they're young, they have a toughness and resilience they really shouldn't have yet. They just fight like crazy."

Picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference, the Lobos suit up only 10 players and have just one senior. But they blossomed behind league player of the year Darington Hobson, a junior college transfer who leads New Mexico in scoring, rebounding and assists.

It also helps that the guy running the show is building a reputation as one of the game's elite coaches.

"I'm not surprised at all by his success, because Steve is just terrific," said Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who hired Alford at Iowa when he ran the Hawkeye sports department. "He's just an exceptional basketball mind, and his best coaching years are ahead of him."

Alford might have a hard time topping this season.

The son of a high school coach, he was an Indiana schoolboy star before becoming a Bobby Knight protege and the Hoosiers' all-time leading scorer. A head coach by 27, he quickly rose from Division III Manchester College to Southwest Missouri State to Iowa.

But he had a rocky tenure with the Hawkeyes. They made the NCAA Tournament three times but advanced to the second round just once. Alford ruffled some feathers in describing Iowa as a football-first school, and he took a public relations beating for standing by star player Pierre Pierce, who was suspended in 2002 and then dismissed from the team in 2005 for sexual-assault incidents.

"Some thought Steve was a little too outspoken in defending his athlete," Bowlsby said. "It quite honestly was difficult for us to work through at times, too. It was one of those things that just seemed to go on and on."

In 2007, at Knight's suggestion, Alford looked at the open New Mexico job. (Knight had almost left Indiana for New Mexico himself in 1988.)

What swayed Alford was the rabid passion for Lobos hoops in the "Land of Enchantment." The Pit, the school's arena, is one of college basketball's most intimidating venues - and is getting a $60 million face-lift.

"I'm having a blast because of the commitment here," said Alford, who is 75-25 in three seasons. "I just think the way I'm wired, I have to be someplace where the top priority is basketball."

When the Lobos returned to the NCAA field this season after National Invitation Tournament berths in Alford's first two seasons, 7,000 fans gathered just to watch Sunday's tournament selection show. Alford believes that people nationwide noticed that sort of enthusiasm.

"When you're out West, the challenge is always getting people east of the Mississippi to understand who you are," Alford said. "We've done that this year. People are talking about us."

Not all the talk about Alford was positive, though. He was given a public reprimand after exchanging harsh words with BYU player Jonathan Tavernari in a postgame handshake line. The incident led to talk that Alford may have learned more than just X's and O's from the volatile Knight.

"He's feisty, and he's very competitive," Bowlsby said. "But I wouldn't say he has a Knight personality. Between feisty and Knight, there's a pretty fair distance."

While the focus Thursday is on Montana, Alford did reminisce this week about playing for the Warriors. He averaged 6.3 points a game for a squad that pulled off a memorable first-round upset of Utah in the 1989 playoffs.

"It was a fun year," he said. "I wish I could have stayed on there past that season."

Then again, that might have just delayed an even better career - coaching.

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