When Steve Alford was named UNM men's basketball head coach in March 2007, he talked about building a program that would put the Lobos in the national spotlight.
Two years into his career, Alford is on his way.
On Monday, he was recognized by the Mountain West Conference as the league's 2008-09 Coach of the Year.
"That's an honor that I'm appreciative of for two reasons: my team and my staff," he said. "I share that with them. We talk about it all the time - no one piece of the puzzle is bigger than the team."
In his second season, Alford led the Lobos to a share of the MWC regular season championship alongside BYU and Utah with a record of 12-4 in conference play. It is the first time UNM has finished atop the MWC standings in the league's history, and it marks the school's first conference championship since it won the WAC in 1994.
Overall, the Lobos went 21-10 and won five straight games to end the season.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Senior Daniel Faris said Alford deserves the award and that the accolade is a testimony to how hard the team worked as a whole.
"That just means so much to us, because we know how much Coach Alford gives to this team and how hard he works," Faris said. "I'm just so happy that he got that. Coach Alford's just done such a great job with every aspect of our team."
Senior guard Tony Danridge was a candidate for MWC Player of the Year but lost to Utah's 7-feet-2-inch center Luke Nevill. Nevill averaged 16.7 points per game and averaged a conference-high 9.6 rebounds during league play.
Danridge was given first-team all-conference honors after averaging 16.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game during MWC play.
Faris was named to the MWC second team, posting 12.2 points and six rebounds during the conference season. Senior Chad Toppert and junior Roman Martinez were named honorable mentions to the all-MWC teams.
Alford said he and the team are honored by the recognition they got from the conference this year but that nothing was as important as earning the title of MWC champions.
"There's a lot of things we're all excited about," he said. "At the top is the league championship. To have a league championship in year two - something that hasn't been here for 15 years - that's exciting to us."
For the Lobos to get closer to Alford's goal of becoming a nationally-recognized team, UNM will have to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, something the Lobos fell short of last season after winning 24 regular-season games but losing in the first round of the MWC Tournament.
By virtue of tiebreakers, UNM will be the No. 3 seed in the tournament and face No. 6 Wyoming in Thursday's opening round. If the Lobos can win three games and the conference tournament, they will receive an automatic bid to the NCAAs. If not, they will have to hope for an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.
Media outlets such as ESPN have said that UNM's accomplishments thus far should be enough to get the Lobos into the Big Dance, but Alford said the team doesn't want to leave anything to chance.
"My argument is we're one of three teams that won a league that's ranked sixth or seventh in the country.. But with all that said, that's why they call it March Madness," he said. "There's a lot of things you can't control, and the only thing you do control is, if you win the (tournament championship) on Saturday, you know you're in."
Men's basketball at Mountain West Conference Tournament
No. 3 UNM vs. No. 6 Wyoming
Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
Thomas and Mack Center
Las Vegas, Nev.
