UNM head coach Steve Alford, who in the past hinted that his UNM stay was contingent on continued administrative support, denied reports that he may leave UNM to fill Missouri’s head coaching vacancy.
But a potential administrative shakeup could be the falling domino to compel him to renege on his multi-year contract extension.
The Alford-to-Mizzou rumor, first reported midday Saturday on the Albuquerque Journal’s website, pegged the Lobos’ coach as a top candidate to replace former coach Mike Anderson, who resigned in mid-March. Three coaches who were at the Final Four told the Journal that Alford had already accepted the position, and UNM assistant coach Craig Neal would replace Alford at UNM.
Two current and two former UNM basketball players told the Daily Lobo over the weekend that they hadn’t heard the rumor before the Journal published its report online. Another source close to the program said he is certain that Alford, who signed an extension in July, won’t leave the program to take the Missouri position.
Still, in his time at UNM, Alford’s name has consistently popped up on the coaching carousel.
The rumor picked up more steam Saturday night, with a St. Louis television station reporting that Alford and Minnesota’s Tubby Smith interviewed for the Missouri job.
Saying he isn’t a “big rumor guy,” Alford, who was in Houston with his son for the Final Four when the story broke, denied in a statement that he interviewed for the job, or that his agent contacted Missouri brass.
“I find it disheartening that I have to take my time at the Final Four dealing with false rumors instead of watching a great college basketball game,” he said.
Around the same time last year, following the Lobos’ record-breaking 30-5 run that included a NCAA tournament appearance, Oregon was reportedly interested in luring Alford from his UNM post.
Like he has continued to do, Alford denied interest in that gig, but qualified under which terms he’d continue to coach at the University of New Mexico.
“As long as I know that Dr. Schmidly and Paul Krebs are locked in here,” Alford said last March, “That’s the most important thing to me. If I didn’t have the right pieces put together from an administration standpoint, it’d be a lot more enticing to look.”
If not this year, it might be more enticing for Alford to leave next year — or in the near future — while his stock is still high. More to the point, it’s not clear what Schmidly and Krebs’ futures are with the University.
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Schmidly’s contract expires June 2012, spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said Sunday. She added that it’s up to the regents to decide whether to offer an extension. Schmidly spent the fall semester on leave as he dealt with health problems, but has since resumed presidential duties without any hiccups.
UNM Sports Director Frank Mercogliano said in a text that Krebs’ contract is up in two years. Mercogliano said he had “no clue” whether Schmidly had sat down with Krebs to discuss a possible extension, and he didn’t say whether the parties would sit down in the immediate future.
When agreeing to a contract extension, the University added a buyout clause to Alford’s contract. Under the terms of his first deal, he didn’t have one. The renegotiated terms call for Alford to pay the University $300,000 if he terminates his deal after April 1 but before March 31, 2012. The buyout drops to $200,000 if Alford leaves after March 31, 2012, but before March 31, 2013, the contract says.
UNM did its part to dispel the rumors, but they floated wildly around the Internet.
Yahoo.com’s Jason King posted the following Saturday on Twitter: “Take it for what its worth but there was lots of buzz @ the Final 4 coaches hotel 2day about mutual interested between Steve Alford & Mizzou.”
The Journal reported that Missouri Athletics Director Mike Alden, a UNM associate athletics director from 1992-96, targeted Alford after Purdue coach Matt Painter turned down an offer from the school.
The word in Houston was that Alden was prepared to offer UNM’s fourth-year head coach more than $2 million a year, about double his UNM salary. Alden, according to the Journal, interviewed Alford for Missouri’s vacancy in 2006 but the school instead hired Anderson.
The Daily Lobo e-mailed Alden to verify the substance of the reports and got an automated message that said he was out of the office and didn’t have access to e-mails.
In 16 years as a head coach, Alford has compiled a record of 406-222, with five NCAA tournament appearances. Alford has led the Lobos to four straight postseason appearances and averaged 24 wins per season.
Shaun Griswold and Chelsea Erven contributed to this report.
