Stephen Todd Alford was born on November 23,1964 and is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference.
44 Facts About Steve Alford
2.
Steve Alford led them to a national championship in 1987.
3.
Steve Alford was named Indiana Mr Basketball in high school before playing at Indiana University Bloomington under coach Bobby Knight.
4.
Steve Alford helped the Hoosiers claim their fifth national championship, and finished his career as Indiana's all-time leading scorer.
5.
Steve 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.
6.
Steve Alford has coached at Manchester University, Southwest Missouri State University, the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico.
7.
Steve Alford was born in Franklin, Indiana and grew up in New Castle.
8.
Steve Alford 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.
9.
Steve Alford missed only two of his father's games, once when he had chicken pox and once when he made the regionals of the Elks Club free-throw shooting contest.
10.
When Steve Alford was nine years old, he attended a basketball camp put on by Coach Bob Knight.
11.
Steve Alford was known to practice shooting so much that he would wear out six or seven nets a summer and frequently forgo social activities.
12.
Later, shortly after Steve Alford won a gold medal as a member of Bob Knight's US Olympic team, he gave the medal to his dad in a tearful ceremony at the high school in tribute to the loss.
13.
Steve Alford decided to play basketball for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers.
14.
Steve Alford was the first player to be named the team's MVP four times.
15.
Steve Alford averaged 10.3 points per game, was second in assists, and shot.
16.
Steve Alford has recounted that during the Olympic training camp, Jordan bet him $100 that he would not last four years on Knight's Indiana team.
17.
Many fans in Indiana expected Steve Alford to be drafted by the Indiana Pacers, but the Pacers selected Reggie Miller and Steve Alford fell to the Dallas Mavericks.
18.
Steve Alford quickly became the face of Indiana basketball and a fan favorite throughout the state.
19.
Steve Alford embodied the "David versus Goliath" image of Indiana basketball popularized in the hit movie Hoosiers.
20.
Steve Alford 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.
21.
Steve Alford is considered one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the game.
22.
Steve Alford began his college coaching career in North Manchester, Indiana in 1991 as head coach of the Division III Manchester University's basketball program.
23.
When Steve Alford began coaching that team, the team had lost its first eight games.
24.
In 1993,1994, and 1995 Steve Alford was named the Indiana Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year.
25.
In 1999 Steve Alford was inducted into Manchester's Hall of Fame.
26.
Steve Alford was named the head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball program on March 22,1999.
27.
Steve Alford was named head coach at the University of New Mexico on March 23,2007, replacing the fired Ritchie McKay.
28.
Steve Alford earned the MWC Coach of the Year Award for his team's performance.
29.
Steve Alford set a record for most wins in the first two seasons for a UNM head coach.
30.
Steve Alford had a confrontation with a Brigham Young player in which Steve Alford called him an "extremely vulgar" name, according to the Wall Street Journal.
31.
Steve Alford won his third MWC coach of the year honor, and New Mexico garnered another Player of the Year award in Kendall Williams.
32.
On March 30,2013, Steve 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.
33.
Steve Alford 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.
34.
UCLA tasked Steve Alford with reviving their offense, connecting with a new generation of players, and rejuvenating its fan base.
35.
Steve Alford accepted the UCLA position just three days after he had signed a 10-year extension at New Mexico.
36.
Steve Alford directed the Bruins to the title in the 2014 Pac-12 tournament, the school's first conference tournament title in six years.
37.
Steve Alford pledged to never allow their defense to rank outside the top 100 nationally.
38.
Steve Alford added assistant coach Murry Bartow to improve the team's defense.
39.
On December 31,2018, two days after the Bruins' loss to Liberty, UCLA announced that Steve Alford had been fired.
40.
Steve Alford guided UCLA to the NCAA tournament four times in five years, including three times to the Sweet 16.
41.
Steve Alford was only the second coach in UCLA's 100-year history to never win a conference regular-season title; his highest finish was second place in his first season.
42.
Steve Alford was hired as the coach of Nevada Wolf Pack on April 11,2019.
43.
Steve Alford replaced Eric Musselman, who left after leading the Wolf Pack to three NCAA tournaments in four seasons.
44.
Steve Alford became a professional basketball player and is currently playing in Germany.