Notes from the Steve Alford presser

Sadly, Dr. Schmidly didn't talk much. It turns out he's just the "incoming" president. Huge drop of the ball by UNM. If a man is named Schmidly, you give him hours with a microphone. Hours.

Nonetheless, after an unjustly brief introduction, they brought out the UNM AD, whose name is Paul Krebs. Schmidly and Krebs! This is too good.

Krebs's introduction was also brief, but two things jumped out. First, Alford was their first target the entire time. That was the case despite the fact that Steve Alford is Steve Alford. Honestly, I just don't understand athletic directors sometimes. The other big fact was that Alford is making a hair under a million per year at UNM. So he's resigning and taking a pay cut to join a school in a conference that has never rated as high the Big Ten in its entire existence? That makes so much sense my brain just melted.

Krebs (heh heh) didn't stick around long before they introduced Steve Alford, at which point Alford put on a garish, Sidney Lowe-looking red blazer. Immediately, he couldn't help but make a reference to his Indiana playing days, remarking about the 20 years it had been since he wore that color. The poor guy just can't let go, can he?

Alford was remarkably gracious to the UI througout the press conference, and made some cute jokes about putting green chilies on eggs. It was good. The thing is, though, the guy's always been good at introductory press conferences. The people in attendance were giving him a standing ovation before he even said a word. That hadn't happened in Iowa in years. His hair looked impeccable (of course). Standing there and making promises that people can't call BS on yet, smiling for the cameras... that's Alford's comfort zone. So of course it went well.

He did keep referring to the passion surrounding New Mexico basketball and their commitment to winning. Huh? How can he pretend that wasn't already there for his taking at Iowa? Before his teams stopped winning, he had all the support in the world at Iowa. The student section was freaking gigantic. And he screwed it all up.

Speaking of promises made that he can't back up, he repeatedly stated that he wanted his team to be the most physical, best-conditioned team in the conference. I'm amazed that nobody raised their hand and asked him to explain why there are only two or three players on Iowa's team with any sort of visible muscle definition. Alford also told the press corps that he and Neal specialized in individual development. Amazingly--and I did have the sound up extremely high to hear the reporters' questions--nobody in the entire room yelled "Bullshit!"

The most telling moment of the entire press conference didn't come until the very end, when some asshole asked him to describe the toughest lesson he learned in Iowa City. Alford's response was a stammering diatribe about the media's inability to understand why he needed to support his players. He didn't mention Pierre Pierce by name, but that would have been unnecessary. Who it was isn't important. Alford's reaction to it is. And as he stood up there and said he may not have been actually talking about a "lesson" (he wasn't), the message was clear. He hasn't really learned anything. And New Mexico ought to expect no more than what he brought to Iowa: a soul-crushing blend of self-promotion and mediocrity.