OH HOLY SHIT YES

If you're rooting for Alford to get the hell out of Iowa City, well, today is a red-letter day.

“University of New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs has asked permission to contact coach Steve Alford in regard to the head coaching position at New Mexico,” Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said in a statement today. “I have granted that permission to New Mexico officials.

In case you were wondering, that makes two coaches that UNM has asked to contact--Alford and Winthrop's Gregg Marshall. Marshall has been long linked to the South Carolina job, so there are probably some teeth to the rumor that Alford's been yapping that the Lobos job is "his if he wants it."

It feels kind of strange to think that the Alford era is so quickly approaching closure at the UI. We never had the "oh, he's got to go" year that typically precedes a firing, and it's not as if he had the huge year that normally facilitates a step up to another school (or the NBA). He's just ducking out to some second-tier conference in order to avoid an inevitable termination.

So we've spent the last eight seasons waiting for the Hair Gel to live up to his self-made hype (which he accomplished about 10% of the time), knowing full well that he had no intentions of staying in Iowa City for the next 20 years. Now, just like that, he's got one foot out the door to Albuquerque. Sheesh. Even his departure doesn't have a money shot.

Keep your eyes on this one, folks.