Manchester University
Who did Steve Alford work for from 1995 to 1999?
Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford ( born November 23 , 1964 ) is an American mens college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference ( MWC ) . Born and raised in Indiana , he was a two-time consensus first-team All-American as a college basketball player for the Indiana Hoosiers . He led them to a national championship in 1987 . After playing professionally for four years in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) , he has been a college head coach for almost 30 years . Alford was named Indiana Mr . Basketball in high school before playing at Indiana University under coach Bobby Knight . He helped the Hoosiers claim their fifth national championship , and finished his career as Indianas all-time leading scorer . Alford was selected in the second round of the 1987 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks , and played four years in the league with Dallas and the Golden State Warriors . Alford then became a college head coach . He has coached at Manchester University , Southwest Missouri State University , the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico . He spent seasons with the UCLA Bruins before being fired midseason in 2018–19 . Early life . Alford was born in Franklin , Indiana and grew up in New Castle . He learned to count as a three-year-old by watching the numbers tick off the scoreboard in Monroe City , where his father , Sam Alford , coached the high school team . Sam often moved for various coaching jobs . Steve missed only two of his fathers games , once when he had chicken pox and once when he made the regionals of the Elks Club free-throw shooting contest . When Alford was nine years old , he attended a basketball camp put on by Coach Bob Knight . Eventually the Alfords settled in New Castle , Indiana , where Steve played on the New Castle Chrysler High School basketball team with his dad as coach . Alford was known to practice shooting so much that he would wear out six or seven nets a summer and frequently forego social activities . As a high school freshman Alford barely averaged a point a game , but then averaged 18.7 the next season . By his senior year in 1983 , before the three-point line was even implemented , Alford averaged 37.7 points per game and earned the Indiana Mr . Basketball award . His team advanced to the state quarterfinal but lost to Connersville in the 1983 state tournament . Later , shortly after Alford won a gold medal as a member of Bob Knights U.S . Olympic team , he gave the medal to his dad in a tearful ceremony at the high school in tribute to the loss . College career . Alford decided to play basketball for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers mens basketball team . At Indiana , he became the universitys all-time leading scorer with 2,438 points ( a record later eclipsed by Calbert Cheaney , who went on to become the Big Tens all-time leading scorer ) . Alford was the first player to be named the teams MVP four times . During his final three seasons , Alford earned first team all-Big Ten honors . 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 . As a freshman , Alford quickly earned the favor of Coach Knight . Dan Dakich , Alfords former teammate and later an interim Indiana coach , said Steve was incredibly mature as a freshman . He was getting thrown out of practice then . If Coach respects you and knows you can handle it , hell do that . When I was a freshman , only Randy Wittman and Ted Kitchel , the seniors , were thrown out . That year Alford helped lead Indiana to an upset of the Michael Jordan-led North Carolina Tar Heels in the 1984 NCAA tournament . For the 1984 Summer Olympics Alford , just 19 years old and a sophomore , 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 Knights Indiana team . As a sophomore Alford was named to the 1985 NIT Tournament All-Tournament team after the Hoosiers finished second behind UCLA . As a junior , he and the 1985-86 Hoosiers were profiled in a best-selling book A Season on the Brink . Author John Feinstein was granted unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program and insights into Knights coaching style . The book recounts how Knight once criticized Alfords work habits and leadership ability , telling him he couldnt lead a whore into bed . Knight later admitted Alford was in fact an incredible worker and leader and the comments were just Knights method of motivating players . The Hoosiers went 21-8 that year and finished second in the Big Ten , with Alford earning All-America and Big Ten Player of the Year honors . In his senior year , the Alford-led 1986-87 Hoosiers won Indianas fifth national championship , when the team defeated Syracuse in title game of the tournament . The game was decided by a game-winning jump shot by Keith Smart with five seconds remaining . Alford shot 7–10 from the three-point line , scored 23 points , including a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the first half that put the Hoosiers ahead by one point to start the second half . After graduation , Alford wrote a book about his college playing experiences entitled Playing for Knight : My Six Seasons with Coach Knight . Professional playing career . Alford was drafted 26th in the 1987 NBA draft . Many fans in Indiana expected Alford to be drafted by the Indiana Pacers , but the Pacers selected Reggie Miller and Alford fell to the Dallas Mavericks . Initially the choice angered Indiana fans but ultimately they and even Alford embraced the decision . Years later , Alford said not only was it a much better draft choice than drafting me.. . Reggie turned out not to be a great pick , he turned out to be great for the state of Indiana . Alford played in the NBA for four seasons , mostly with the Dallas Mavericks , although he spent a portion of one season with Golden State Warriors . Over his career , he started three games , scored 744 points , had 176 assists and shot free throws with an accuracy of 87 percent . Player profile . Alford quickly became the face of Indiana basketball and a fan favorite throughout the state . Dan Dakich , Alfords former teammate and later an interim Indiana coach , said of him , Basically , he owns all of Indiana . Alfords wife Tanya said , Everybody talks about his hair , his all-American image , how mothers would want him to marry their daughter . Everybody thinks hes so perfect . Well , thats a pretty accurate image . Thats exactly what he is . Alford embodied the David versus Goliath image of Indiana basketball popularized in the hit movie Hoosiers ( released in 1986 while Alford was at Indiana ) . He was small for a major-college guard , slow without any compensatory quickness and strong only because he ate and flexed himself up to 185 pounds from 150 as a freshman . According to commentators , Alford owed his success to repetition and work . In his workouts he would pick a spot on the floor and take ten shots . If he did not make eight , he would punish himself with fingertip push-ups or wind sprints . At the end of his college career , Coach Knight said , Hes gotten more out of his abilities offensively than anybody Ive seen play college basketball . Hes about as good a scorer for being strictly a jump shooter as Ive ever seen . Hes scored more than 2,400 points that way , and thats incredible , considering he doesnt get any tip-ins , drives or dunks . Alford is considered one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the game . Alfords free throw percentage of .897 ( 535-596 ) is ninth best in the history of the NCAA . His form at the foul line is so routine that it inspired a famous mantra from Indiana fans : Socks , shorts , 1-2-3 swish . Before releasing a free throw , Alford told himself , Soft over the front edge of the rim , and some people believed they could see his lips move . Coaching career . Manchester University Spartans . Alford began his college coaching career in North Manchester , Indiana in 1991 as head coach of the Division III Manchester Universitys 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 finished 31–1 . In 1994 and 1995 Manchester won conference titles , and in Alfords 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 . The loss to Bo Ryans University of Wisconsin-Platteville team marked the only title game in NCAA history matching two undefeated squads . 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 Manchesters Hall of Fame . Missouri State Bears . Following his time at Manchester , Alford was named the head coach at Southwest Missouri State University , now 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 . Alford was named the head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes mens basketball program on March 22 , 1999 . Although his 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 Mens Basketball Tournament with four straight wins against Northwestern , Ohio State , Penn State , and Indiana . This earned them a #7 seed in the 2001 NCAA Mens 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 . That season , leading scorer Pierre Pierce was charged with raping a female Iowa athlete . Alford was adamant about Pierces innocence . A plea bargain was reached where Pierce pleaded guilty to a lesser charge . He was suspended from the team and redshirted . In 2004 , Iowa 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 . In 2005 , in a separate incident , Pierce was charged with sexual assault of his ex-girlfriend , and he was dismissed from the team before charges were filed . However , Alfords reputation among Iowa fans suffered . Pierce later served 11 months in a correctional facility . 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 a 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 . He led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament three times , but had a 61–67 record in the Big Ten , only once finishing higher than fourth in the conference . 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 teams 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 , Alfords 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 teams first bid since 2005 . In the first round , they survived a tough game against Montana 62–57 , but despite Dairese Garys 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 2019–2020 season . The 2010-2011 season started with Alfords group at 12-4 after non-conference play , but the team struggled to an 8-8 conference regular season record . Drew Gordon and Dairese Gary led a talented team that underachieved much throughout the year into the conference tournament . The team seemed poised to make a run in the MWC conference tournament , but a tragic ACL injury to Gary in the semi-finals against BYU proved to be too much to overcome for this young UNM squad . Alford also had a confrontation with a Brigham Young player in which Alford called him an extremely vulgar name , according to the Wall Street Journal . Their 2010-2011 season ended with an NIT loss to Alabama 74-67 . However , with everyone coming back ( with the exception of Gary ) , the following season seemed to hold promise . The 2011-2012 season began with a rough patch . UNM was picked to win the league for the first time in Alfords five years at the helm , but the team started a questionable 2-2 with losses to home state rival NMSU and a bottom feeder WCC team in Santa Clara . UNM then raced off to a twelve-game win streak and finished the non-conference season at 14-2 . UNM then went on to have a 10-4 conference regular season record and a share of the conference title with arch-rival San Diego State . It was only fitting that the regular season co-champions would square off in the MWC tournament title game . With Drew Gordon and Demetrius Walker leading a battle tested UNM team in the championship , Alford and his Lobos prevailed to a 69-58 conference tournament title . UNM received a fifth seed in the NCAA West region , and they defeated Casper Ware and the Long Beach State 49ers in their first game of the NCAA Tournament . The Lobos lost to the Louisville Cardinals in their next game . In the 2012-2013 season , with a vicious defensive team , Alford led his Lobo squad to a 26-5 regular season record , winning the Mountain West Regular Season conference title . Alford won his third MWC coach of the year honor , and New Mexico garnered another Player of the Year award in Kendall Williams . New Mexico was primed to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament after winning the MWC conference tournament for the second straight year . At 29-5 entering the tournament , New Mexico was an early favorite as a Final Four participant by several analysts and publications , but Alford and his No . 3 seed Lobos were upset by an underdog 14th-seeded Harvard team , who won their first NCAA tournament game in school history . UCLA Bruins . Consecutive Sweet Sixteens ( 2013–2015 ) . On March 30 , 2013 , Alford signed a seven-year , $18.2-million contract to become the head coach of the UCLA Bruins , joining a program that has won a record 11 national titles . He replaced the fired Ben Howland , who was coming off a blowout loss in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament after UCLA had captured the Pac-12 Conference regular season title with a new up-tempo offense . Overall , he won four conference titles and reached the Final Four three straight times ( 2006–2008 ) with the Bruins . Alford had a 5-7 NCAA Tournament record , and had only advanced his teams beyond the first weekend of the tournament once before , when he led his Cinderella squad from Southwest Missouri State to the Sweet 16 in 1999 . UCLA tasked Alford with reviving their offense , connecting with a new generation of players , and rejuvenating its fan base . He accepted the UCLA position just three days after he had signed a 10-year extension at New Mexico . At UCLAs introductory news conference , Alford was questioned about his handling of Pierce in Iowa , and he stated that he did everything that [ he ] was told to do . Criticism grew over his hiring , especially over his handling of Pierce . Two weeks after his hiring , Alford apologized for declaring Pierces innocence before the legal system had run its course . This was inappropriate , insensitive and hurtful , especially to the young female victim involved , and I apologize for that . Soon after his hiring , Alford filled his head assistant coaching staff position with good friend and former John Calipari assistant Ed Schilling . Also hired were David Grace , a rising assistant who spent 2008–2013 on the Oregon State staff , and Duane Broussard , who spent 2008–2013 as Alfords assistant at New Mexico . Tyus Edney , who starred on UCLAs 1995 national championship team , continued as director of operations . In his first season , fans accused Alford of nepotism for playing his son Bryce over fellow freshman Zach LaVine . The Bruins had rarely sought players who were not four- or five-star recruits , while Bryce was rated a consensus three-star prospect . The coach groomed his son over LaVine to be the teams backup point guard behind starter Kyle Anderson . Alford directed the Bruins to the title in the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament , the schools first conference tournament title in six years . They advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament—their first regional semifinal appearance since 2008—before falling to Florida , who improved to 4–0 all-time against UCLA in the NCAA tournament . After Anderson and LaVine left UCLA for the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) , Bryce became the Bruins starting point guard in 2014–15 . Although he was considered more of a shooter than a true point guard , Alfords son was the teams only legitimate option for the position . The Bruins began the season at 4–0 and ranked No . 22 before losing two of three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament . Beginning with their December loss at home to Gonzaga , the Bruins lost five consecutive games , their longest streak since 2009–10 . Losses included a 39-point defeat to No . 1 Kentucky—they fell behind 24–0 and trailed 41–7 at halftime—and by 32 points against Utah . UCLA closed out the regular season with three straight home wins to finish undefeated ( 9–0 ) at home in the conference for the first time since 2006–07 . The Bruins went 1–1 in the 2015 Pac-12 Tournament , but proved most major projections wrong by receiving an invitation to the 2015 NCAA tournament , earning a No . 11 seed . The squad became the lowest-seed UCLA team to ever reach the regional semifinals . They benefitted from a controversial goaltending call and a favorable second-round matchup with No . 14 seed Alabama Birmingham to advance to the Sweet 16 , when they lost again to Gonzaga . Fanbase grows restless ( 2015–2018 ) . In 2015–16 , UCLA finished with a 15–17 record , the fourth time the program finished with a losing record since 1948 , when John Wooden became the coach . The team missed the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in 10 years . The Bruins were eliminated from the 2016 Pac-12 Tournament after a 95–71 loss to USC , losing three consecutive times in the same season to their crosstown rivals for the first time in 74 years . One week during the offseason , a plane flew over the UCLA campus on two occasions with a banner urging the school to fire Alford . A week later , Alford apologized for what he called an unacceptable season , and he returned a one-year contract extension he had received in 2014 . He pledged to never allow their defense to rank outside the top 100 nationally . The following year , Alford led a talented squad that featured three eventual NBA first-round draft picks and five future NBA players . The Bruins finished one game out of first place in the Pac-12 , and UCLA advanced to its third Sweet 16 in four years as freshmen Lonzo Ball and T . J . Leaf led one of the top offensive teams in the nation . In 2017–18 , UCLA opened its new practice facility , the Mo Ostin Basketball Center . The team again struggled defensively . UCLA qualified for the 2018 NCAA Tournament , but lost 65–58 to St . Bonaventure in the First Four for the Bonnies first tournament win in 48 years . It was the first time in UCLAs history that they had been relegated to a First Four play-in game . It was also the first time in the schools four tournament appearances under Alford that they did not advance to the Sweet 16 . Another banner was flown over campus , this time reading Final Fours not First Fours #FireAlford . In 2018–19 in Alfords sixth year at UCLA , he brought in a top-10 recruiting class which included center Moses Brown . He also added assistant coach Murry Bartow to improve the teams defense . The Bruins were ranked No . 21 in the preseason AP Poll , and they started the season 4–0 to move up to No . 17 . However , they lost six of the next nine and finished with a 7–6 record in nonconference play , closing it out with four straight losses , the last of which was a 73–58 defeat to Liberty . The 15-point setback was the most lopsided home loss in Alfords tenure with UCLA . Combined with an earlier home loss to mid-major program Belmont , it was the first time the Bruins had lost consecutive home games to non-Power Five schools since 2012–13 . Four days after Belmont , they lost by 29 at Cincinnati , their largest margin of defeat since 2014–15 . Their offense had grown stagnant . As the losses mounted , Alford increasingly blamed his players . UCLA had not lost four straight since the end of 2015–16 , when they finished the season under .500 . They had not suffered four consecutive nonconference losses since 2010–11 . On December 31 , 2018 , two days after the Bruins loss to Liberty , UCLA announced that Alford had been fired . It was the first time the program had made a coaching change in the middle of the season . Alford ended his tenure with a 124–63 overall record and 55–35 in the Pac-12 . He guided UCLA to the NCAA Tournament four times in five years , including three times to the Sweet 16 . However , he failed to win a Pac-12 regular-season title , and his only Pac-12 Tournament title was in his first season . He never advanced past the Sweet 16 . He was only the second coach in UCLAs 100-year history to never win a conference regular-season title ; his highest finish was second place in his first season . During his tenure , UCLA had 11 players selected in the NBA draft , including seven first-round picks . Personal life . Alford has three children , Kory , Bryce and Kayla . Kory played for the elder Alford at New Mexico and transferred with him to UCLA , and is now head coach at Huntington University . Bryce also played under Alford at UCLA , and ended his career as the schools career leader in three-pointers made . He became a professional basketball player and is currently playing in Germany . Alford is a Christian . He has spoken openly about his faith , saying , Im a Christian first . Im a family guy second . As much as I like coaching , as much as I like basketball , its third , fourth , or fifth down the line . External links . - Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profile