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Steve Alford

rico

By rico
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IUFLA

IUFLA

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I'll preface this by saying I knew Steve when he was a kid. I played baseball (yes, baseball) for his dad, Sam, back in the 70s at Martinsville high school. I liked Coach Alford a lot, and learned some valuable lessons from him. And I always rooted for Steve to do well as a player and a coach. 

I always thought he would be the natural choice to coach at IU some day, after his initial successes at Manchester and SMS, but I think that ship has sailed. 

I think Steve is a better fit at a smaller program (like New Mexico) where he'll get mid-tier talent. I think he's one of those that has a hard time coaching 5 stars. Take Lonzo Ball (and his crackpot father) as an example. I watched a couple of UCLA games that season and was shocked at the out of control play Steve let them get away with. Damn that NBA one and done rule...

I too think he's gone after this season. If the Bruin fans wouldn't put up with Ben Howland, they damn sure won't put up with this. Hopefully he can land a nice, mid-level gig somewhere and have success.

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rico

rico

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17 minutes ago, HoosierJax said:

He had a good thing going at the pit...eyes were bigger then his stomach 

In fairness to Steve, he has won everywhere he has been.   But New Mexico was the perfect fit.  A school of that ilk is what he needs.  

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dgambill

dgambill

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3 hours ago, IUFLA said:

I'll preface this by saying I knew Steve when he was a kid. I played baseball (yes, baseball) for his dad, Sam, back in the 70s at Martinsville high school. I liked Coach Alford a lot, and learned some valuable lessons from him. And I always rooted for Steve to do well as a player and a coach. 

I always thought he would be the natural choice to coach at IU some day, after his initial successes at Manchester and SMS, but I think that ship has sailed. 

I think Steve is a better fit at a smaller program (like New Mexico) where he'll get mid-tier talent. I think he's one of those that has a hard time coaching 5 stars. Take Lonzo Ball (and his crackpot father) as an example. I watched a couple of UCLA games that season and was shocked at the out of control play Steve let them get away with. Damn that NBA one and done rule...

I too think he's gone after this season. If the Bruin fans wouldn't put up with Ben Howland, they damn sure won't put up with this. Hopefully he can land a nice, mid-level gig somewhere and have success.

 

2 hours ago, rico said:

In fairness to Steve, he has won everywhere he has been.   But New Mexico was the perfect fit.  A school of that ilk is what he needs.  

Agreed....always root for him. I think he would be better served in one of the non-power 5 conferences. Give him a school that has just large enough footprint and visibility that he can use his recruiting prowless and I think he could build teams that mostly on talent alone could win the conference year in and out. When he has to compete against equal talented teams he usually comes out on bottom. Granted he has whooped up on UK a couple times but then so did Crean. I still think he could benefit from being back in the Midwest and utilize his Indiana roots more. Say a Western Kentucky or Witchita St. or Creighton. Heck if he was coaching at Butler that would be the perfect fit (except perhaps he isn't the personality type to fit there). Still a major basketball conference but a school that would maximize his Indiana heritage with the hot bed of talent in the Indiana area. Hard to say where he would go after UCLA....anything else is definitely a lesser job and can he be happy doing that.

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FKIM01

FKIM01

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It's sad that it's come down to Steve being exposed  like this.  Dgambill hit the nail on the head...give Steve a gig where his recruiting ability is sufficient to bring in superior talent and his mediocre coaching ability will be sufficient for success.  New Mexico was likely perfect for him, but he needs Sam back on the bench.

I loved Steve as a player and he'll always have my thanks for his contribution to banner #5 but he's not much of a college coach...he's just not.  I'd put Tom Crean ahead of Steve, frankly.  I think Steve would literally have less success at IU than Crean did.  That's how little I think of Steve's bench coaching and leadership ability.

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FKIM01

FKIM01

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8 minutes ago, rico said:

Well then I guess Fran ain't a winner?  8 years and 3 NCAAT appearances.  Same as Steve, but the caveat is that Alford won 2 BTT titles in those 8 years.  

No, Fran is not much of a winner, but who else is going to take that job?

...and Fran is fun to watch when he gets rolling.

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rico

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3 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

No, Fran is not much of a winner, but who else is going to take that job?

...and Fran is fun to watch when he gets rolling.

TBH, Iowa hasn't had trouble luring coaches in the past.  But they ain't looking for a coach.......YET.  LOL

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dgambill

dgambill

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40 minutes ago, rico said:

Well then I guess Fran ain't a winner?  8 years and 3 NCAAT appearances.  Same as Steve, but the caveat is that Alford won 2 BTT titles in those 8 years.  

I would say only the 05/06 season was really successful (and that ended in a first rd loss) and possibly could have had a special team in 01 until Recker got hurt. I wouldn't say he had a successful tenure there...after all he followed it up with going to New Mexico. That said I very much agree.....Iowa has had some really really good coaches go through there. Lute Olsen, George Raveling, and Tom Davis. They had some good success and honestly was a solid basketball force in the B1G until Alford started the downward trend. Fran has been very mediocre....to me much like Crean...brought the program back to relevance but isn't going to ever win them a B1G championship or take them on a deep run in NCAA or anything. I imagine they could be similar to Wisconsin if they had the right guy at the helm where they stay at the top of the conference and occasionally make deep runs but perhaps they are like Purdue and figure they are happy with where they are.

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FKIM01

FKIM01

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2 hours ago, rico said:

The same guy at it again...

https://www.bruinsnation.com/ucla_basketball/2018/11/23/18109315/ucla-bruins-basketball-fails-adjust-second-half-lose-north-carolina-tar-heels-94-78

"The face of a man who has no idea what he's doing"

Wow...LOL...just brutal reporting.  Alford has the rest of the season to preserve his job at UCLA.

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rico

rico

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6 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

"The face of a man who has no idea what he's doing"

Wow...LOL...just brutal reporting.  Alford has the rest of the season to preserve his job at UCLA.

I would say he is a really disgruntled UCLA fan.  But I am just guessing.  LOL

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rico

rico

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9 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

In a separate way, that's just about as damning.  "The coach is ineffective in motivating us to play our best" says Kris Wilkes (well, kind of)...

The one I originally put up had his record against quality opponents......but I couldn't get it to load.  But yeah, this one is just as damning.

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StLHoosier

StLHoosier

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22 hours ago, FKIM01 said:

In a separate way, that's just about as damning.  "The coach is ineffective in motivating us to play our best" says Kris Wilkes (well, kind of)...

I’m not an Alford fan by any means, but that quote tells me all I need to know about Kris Wilkes.  It’s the coaches responsibility to create a good game plan, manage the game and put his players in the best spot to succeed.  Motivation must come from within the player.  The coach can give them a nudge, but 99% of it must come from the player.

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FKIM01

FKIM01

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46 minutes ago, StLHoosier said:

I’m not an Alford fan by any means, but that quote tells me all I need to know about Kris Wilkes.  It’s the coaches responsibility to create a good game plan, manage the game and put his players in the best spot to succeed.  Motivation must come from within the player.  The coach can give them a nudge, but 99% of it must come from the player.

I was paraphrasing.  To Wilkes' credit, he, speaking for the players, was defending Alford and admitting that the players were more or less, playing soft and selfish.  He would agree with your point, but personally, I think tone and leadership comes from the top.  How is it that Coach K and Calipari can get their 5-stars to play hard for them?  Sure, the players have to execute, but the coach has to have the ability to motivate them and aside from that deficiency, I think Alford's ability as a game planner and tactician is lacking as well.

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