New Mexico fans aren't listening

I've said it before--don't feed Alford adulation before he's done anything. He only becomes more addicted to it. He craves it.

Nonetheless, UNM set up a publicity-grabber for him at an Isotopes exhibition on Tuesday night. Steve got to sign autographs, shake hands with kids, and *gasp* throw out the first pitch! Most precious of all, the jersey the UNM coach gave him had #12 on it. For when Steve played basketball. 20 years ago. There's a link to a small picture gallery in his blog entry with a couple precious moments.

Come on. The one thing that's stopping Alford from being a great coach is his inability to get over his past and himself. He's such a wiener for Bob Knight and Indiana that it's sickening. If you really want your coach to grow up, Lobos, you'll cut the "Gold Medal Salsa" and "Here's a jersey with #12" business and make him be a coach.

1987's a long, long time ago.

And it wants its hair back.

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.

Watch the New Mexico and Iowa press conferences online

[Both sites require Internet Explorer. Sorry.]

Both schools are part of the CSTV network, which is good news for online content. Thus, both schools are webcasting the press conferences free.

3 PM CDT - UNM press conference
Go to golobos.cstv.com and click on "All Access" on the right, above the chick with the large head. From there, register if you have to (it's free and takes about 5 seconds), then click on the "PRESS CONFERENCES" tab.

4 PM CDT - UI press conference
Go to hawkeyesports.cstv.com and find the "All Access" button on the right again. It's a bit harder to locate, but it's there. From there, repeat the above directions.

I'll be watching both and posting notes here if you can't watch either of them.

Oh, and in case this sounds like an advertisement for CSTV, it's not. As a matter of fact, I recommend unclicking all the e-mail options when you register.

LATE UPDATE: Both videos are also available at kcci.com. Thanks to The Wizard of Odds.

Gary Barta has no use for your goddamned questions

As the move to New Mexico looms, reporters have hounded Gary Barta for further details. Gary Barta doesn't give a fuck.

Shortly after, Barta entered the office and — after a 32-minute meeting with Alford — told waiting media that a press conference will be held tomorrow afternoon in Iowa City.

When asked to elaborate on the meeting with Alford, Barta said: “I have no additional comment.”

No additional comment? Not "hell yeah he's leaving, what the hell did you expect?" Nothing? C'mon. This Alford secret's about as well-kept as McDonald's Big Mac sauce (Thousand Island) or what really causes hurricanes to hit the U.S. (magnetic attraction to Southern Baptists).

I do kind of like that Barta's a dick to the media, though. It's not as if sportswriters serve any real purpose here in Iowa. I'm glad Barta's showing who runs shit around here.

Thank you Steve!

I would like to openly thank Steve Alford for his services here at the University of Iowa. Steve, as you probably know is leaving Iowa City for sunny Albuquerque not for the golf, but because it's a basketball school and not a football school, like Iowa (eleventh paragraph).

The thing is, when Steve Alford came to Iowa (ugh... 7 years ago), Iowa was a basketball school. The football team won 4 games over the 2000 and 2001 seasons. The basketball team was a combined 37-28 over those same academic seasons, and they had quality players in Luke Recker, Reggie Evans, and Dean Oliver (specifically in the 2000-2001 season). They made it to the NCAA Tournament and got the only win during Alford's tenure. The prospects for the hoops team were very bright. Dean-O left but Iowa still had their stars. Unfortunately, they proceeded to throw the next season, then flew to sunny Mexico after a first round home loss in the NIT to LSU.

That season was the turning point. The football team stepped it up late in 2001 and continued to grow (unlike Alford's boys) in the coming seasons. 2001 saw a trip to the Alamo Bowl, followed by one of the greatest seasons in Iowa history which led them to the Orange Bowl. The proverbial tables were reversed. When Iowa had a chance to be one of the best schools in the two major sports, one team stepped up and one (Alford's) team wilted.

The reason Alford is leaving is his own doing. The University of Iowa was a basketball school, but Steve played a big role in making it a football school. His quality teams decided to make spring break plans that didn't involve a 64-team tournament, he vouched for felons, he sold out his student section, he crapped on some of his better players (most notably Jared Reiner) and he drove his recruits to transfer (Marcellus Sommerville, Nick DeWitz, Carlton Reed, just to name a few) and now he's leaving because Iowa is a "football school. " Thank you Steve. Instead of Iowa being a formidable power in both major sports (like Florida, Ohio State, Wisconsin, LSU, or Texas), you made Iowa a "football school."

Andy Katz runs this shit

Updated news from Andy Katz and ESPN--the deal is done, and Alford and Neal are going to New Mexico. The press conference, as predicted before, will be Friday.

It's not a big surprise anymore, granted, but it's still pretty interesting. Alford bailed out as soon as the AD started talking tough, and he's even taking a cut in pay and prestige to avoid being fired. The "basketball school" nonsense is just that; he'll regret that as soon as he sees UNM's budget hampered without a cash cow like Iowa football on it.

Now it's time to figure out who's coaching here. Buddy Light and I will be having intense team-building exercises* over the next few days as we try to decide who the candidates will be for the job. We haven't ruled out Coach K, P-Diddy, or Erin Andrews at this point.

*case races of the beer he named himself after

"No comment" tells us plenty, thanks

Local columnist Susan Harman has today's Alford update for the Press-Citizen. It still looks awfully likely that he's gone, but now might be a good time to make sure you know what cabinets the Xanax and Black Velvet are in.

That's because for all the certainty of Andy Katz and his unnamed "multiple sources," there's still an awful lot of people who don't know anything about him leaving--like, say, the starting point guard:

News about New Mexico's official interest in Alford filtered through Iowa's locker room Wednesday.

"We've heard about it, but we haven't talked to coach Alford, so I really can't comment on anything," Freeman said.

When asked if he expected Alford to coach at Iowa next season, Freeman said: "Definitely - at least I hope so."

Steve. How are you gonna do Tony like that?? All the kid wants is a little honesty. Well, also about fifteen more shots a game, but I don't think Alford can give him that.

Even the incoming recruits don't have a clue what all the talk is about. We've already heard from that kid out in Maryland telling us Alford signed a 5-year deal, and now incoming forward Jarryd Cole is the latest victim of the system:

Jarryd Cole, who signed a letter of intent with Iowa last fall, said he hadn't talked to any of the Iowa coaches about the situation.

"I guess confusing is the best way to put it," Cole said. "I've just got to stay positive, keep my head up and hope it isn't true."

Cole said he wasn't sure what he would do if Alford leaves Iowa. He is bound by the letter of intent but some schools grant waivers when coaches leave before the student-athlete matriculates.

Look what you're doing to the kids, Steve. Think of the children. You know who didn't just up and leave when things got tough? Yup... Jesus. It's time to live up to the bracelet, even if that means Craig Neal's going to betray you for 30 silver pieces and the Cyclones crucify you. It's WWJD, not WWATPD (What Would A Total Pussy Do).

Steve can put a quick end to a lot of speculation by simply stating that he's the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes and he intends to stay here. Never one to consider Iowa fans stupid, though, he leaves the work for us to read between the lines:

Alford, who flew out of the Cedar Rapids airport Tuesday but was expected to return to his office today, declined comment through the Iowa sports information office.

Well, that's probably all we need to know, isn't it?

Isn't it?

MSNBC basically rips off Andy Katz, reports Alford is out

The article itself adds absolutely no new information--it looks like MSNBC took Katz's article, snipped a few sentences, and called it their own. I'm mentioning it for two reasons: A) It's another major news service reporting that Alford is on his way out, and B) the picture of Alford pinching off a grumpy onto the United Center sideline. Oh hell, I'll post it here.

HNNNNRRRRRGGGGGH

The Worldwide Leader says Alford is leaving

The hits just keep pouring in, folks. Now Andy Katz (oh yeah, him) is citing multiple sources to report that UNM is thiiiiiis close to hiring Alford, and now they're just working on details.

The article included a couple interesting points that I hadn't heard before:

The connection to Alford started in largely part because the new UNM president, David Schmidly, was formerly at Texas Tech, home of Alford's former coach Bob Knight.

I don't know what's funnier: the fact that Alford is STILL riding Knight's coattails, or the president's name (that's him to the right). Schmidly. He sounds like an unpopular science teacher in some Disney Channel sitcom. "Oh no, here comes Mr. Schmidly!"

Sources close to Alford said he was looking for a new challenge after going through some tense seasons in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes haven't been devoid of issues off the court, notably with Pierre Pierce's legal troubles during Alford's tenure.

"Legal troubles" is a nice euphemism. It's certainly more polite, if less accurate, than calling them "raping troubles."

All in all, even if Alford's deal falls through, it seems pretty safe to assume that Barta's rolling up and putting away the welcome mat in Iowa City as we speak. I hope he's already thumbing through the Rolodex to find a new coach. I hear John Wooden's available.

P.S. I am sorely tempted to make a Schmidly avalanche. But the better part of me is keeping the avalanche where it belongs: in Pat Harty's house.

It is damned near official: Alford is history.

According to WHO, KXIC, and various Hawkeye sites on the internets, Alford is going to New Mexico. The announcement will be at the end of the week.

I'll miss you, Alford. I seriously will.

By the way, here's the best link I could find for now. I have a feeling tomorrow will bear us a plethora of good sites to link to.

Greg Oden's AAU coach needs a new neighbor

There's a post on the New Mexico boards that I don't feel like searching for, but reads as such:

Lobo fans, greetings from Indiana. I am a long time lobo fan and former member of this board under another handle (lobopig). Here in Indianapolis, I have a friend and neighbor who is a Coach of one of the powerhouse AAU teams in the area. Greg Oden, Mike Connely, Jr. are some of his recent players. At any rate this guy has contact with D1 coaches everyday and this morning he sent me an e-mail stating that Steve Alford was going to be the next New Mexico coach. This guy is extremely reliable and was instrumental in the recruitment of Eric Gordon to Indiana after a verbal to Illinois. The press conference is going to be Friday. This will cause particular waves here because Alford wasn't offered the IU job despite the wish of many IU fans here in Indiana.

A quick little google work says Greg Oden's AAU coach was... Mike Conley Sr.! Well, well, well. In case you hadn't been paying close attention to the Buckeyes (understandable), Conley the Elder has begun being involved in sports representation, anticipating his son's and Oden's big payoff. It seems only academic to deduce that he's got plenty of contacts within coaching circles at this point; it's not a statement he'd make if he was just guessing.

So the father of an OSU basketball player and one with huge ties to the coaching circles says Alford is gone by the end of the week. I'm overjoyed, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go streaking on the Pentacrest. Happy days may well be here again, Hawk fans.

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.

What's with all the running? I think you're really just trying to run from the past.

Now the latest rumor in Albuquerque and the internets says Alford might want to be a Runnin' Ute, not a Runnin' Rebel, next season. Unfortunately, the Albuquerque Journal's site is registration-only, and I couldn't find confirmation of that article online when I did register. So don't.

In fact, here's all that was quoted from the article:

WE HAVE CONTACT: Winthrop sports information director Jack Frost told the Journal that athletic director Tom Hickman has given UNM AD Paul Krebs permission to interview Gregg Marshall for the Lobos' coaching vacancy.
Frost refused to relay a message to Marshall for an interview request.
IF YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY HONEY: Apparently Iowa's Steve Alford's got the time. The latest word in coaching circles is that Alford is telling folks the UNM job is his if he wants it and he is negotiating with Eastman & Beaudine about possibly leaving Iowa.
... Meanwhile, a source in Iowa says that Alford is also campaigning for the vacancy at Utah.

Wait, what the hell is Alford thinking? First, the job isn't his until they hire him; in fact, the longer it takes them to pull the trigger, the less likely it's going to be Alford they take. It's not as if anything he's done in the last ten years stands up to any sort of scrutiny whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I think Jesus specifically warns against counting your chickens before they hatch. Or maybe that was Mother Goose. I don't know, I'm not a religionologist.

Second, if he's already got the UNM job, why is he trying to get in with Utah? Andrew Bogut's not walking through that door! Andre Miller's not walking through that door! Keith Van Horn's not walking through that door! Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala--sorry, wrong sport. OK, let's start again with KVH... Keith Van Horn's not walking through that door! Michael Doleac's not walking through that door! Rick Majerus can't walk through that door!

Either way, I'm ambivalent about seeing Steve looking around so much for new digs. On one hand, the dark ages of Hawkeye basketball would draw to a close. That's a positive. But if things start going well again, well... what the hell would there be for me to write about?

Meet Ritchie McKay!

We've heard recently that Steve Alford may be campaigning for the spot recently (and forcibly) vacated by Ritchie McKay, over at the University of New Mexico. The Hair Gel has made a couple allusions to him, so why don't we take the time to get to learn a little bit more about him?

In my search for information about him, I stumbled onto a page written by New Mexico's scout.com page after he was fired. If you think I'm going to find an amateurish, poorly worded opinion column WITH LOTS OF ARBITRARY CAPS LOCK ABUSE and not give you a link, you have a lot to learn. CLICK HERE HOW LITTLE LEAGUE PARENT OF YOU.

As for Ritchie himself, he's got a website. And if you're a fan of blinking text, boy are you in for a treat.

The rest of the site is pretty barebones; among the handful of sparsely filled subsections, "My Faith" includes this phrase: "In this section, I hope that you will be inspired by the messages or testimony of others." There are, of course, no other messages or testimony.

Truth be told, I can't really manufacture any real contempt for the guy. He comes across as far more humble and less histrionic than Iowa's fearless leader. While he's every bit as, for lack of a better term, "openly Christian" as Alford is, the underlying sense of self-promotion is absent.

Even his goodbye letter is almost heartbreaking in its genuine courtesy, replete with small grammatical errors:

I just want to thank you so much for the overwhelming display of support for myself and our staff during our tenure at UNM. Even though I am disappointed that we cannot continue as the leaders of this program, I am sure and quite confident that UNM will hire someone that will continue to further the program in order to restore its' rich tradition. I have a lot of great memories of my time in Albuquerque, especially in the Pit, including but not limited to the great finish that we had in '04-'05, having a chance to coach such a great group of young men throughout my tenure. It has really been a privilege and a Blessing to have coached at my father's alma mater and like most all Lobo fans, I will be a fan forever.

Please don't feel sorry for us. Our faith leads us to believe that God has another path for us to follow and we are going to do that without looking back. So, thank you again for taking the time to read this and to write and support us. It is greatly appreciated and it won't be forgotten.

Jeez. Any way we can just trade UNM straight-up for this guy? I can handle a 17-13 season if the coach at least conducts himself with class like that.

Steve Alford talks to the old New Mexico coach, but it's not what you think

From the "newspaper desperately reaching for a story" department... the Des Moines Register reports that Alford and outoging UNM coach Ritchie McKay are awfully buddy-buddy:

"I talk with Ritchie all the time," [Alford] wrote.

"We are very close friends, and we are on the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) ministry team together. We have not spoken about the New Mexico job. We have spoken recently about the Final Four and the activities that we are in charge of in regard to the ministry team."

There is, of course, the problem of the fact that New Mexico still hasn't even asked to talk to Alford. Or that McKay also said that they didn't talk about the job, just McKay's career. But McKay did say something awfully strange in his side of the story that doesn't quite contradict Alford's statement:

"We talk all the time," McKay told the Journal. "I'm not saying he's a candidate, I'm not saying he isn't. I don't think I'm the place to go to ask about the job. If he asks me, I'll give my opinion. But our conversation was about my career and my direction."

If you're confused, you're not alone. They talked about McKay's career, but not the job at New Mexico? How artful must that verbal ballet have been! Maybe they just stuck to Pig Latin or Ubby-Dubby when they discussed McKay's tenure in Albubbaquerbaquebby.

There's obviously something to the New M--excuse me, Ew-nay Exico-may rumors. Barta's probably spending about twenty hours a day hunkered down next to the telephone, waiting for the Lobos to ask permission to talk to Alford. And should Barta ever leave the office for whatever reason (food, toilet, murder), I can only imagine a Mike Peters-esque trainwreck of phone messages left for the UNM athletic director.

Please, unnamed UNM athletic director. End the madness. Let Gary Barta sleep again. Hire Steve Alford.