Alford says ‘hot seat’ is no toastier than usual
UCLA coming off early tourney exit
LOS ANGELES — Steve Alford sounded relaxed for a coach who recently guided UCLA to its earliest exit from an NCAA Tournament.
He chuckled when asked if the way the season ended made him feel additional pressure.
“No,” Alford said during a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times in which he also discussed the Bruins’ signing center Moses Brown and point guard Tyger Campbell to letters of intent on the first day of the spring signing period.
“I mean, pressure is all about what you think as far as an individual. As a player, I didn’t think about pressure and as a
coach, I didn’t think about pressure. When I was a player, I worked as hard as I could to be the best player that I could possibly be and perform that way and I do the same thing now 29 years as a head coach.”
Alford, the former University of New Mexico (2007-13) head coach, said he met informally with athletic director Dan Guerrero after the Bruins lost to St. Bonaventure in a First Four game last month but would not divulge the nature of the conversation.
“Really, that meeting’s between Dan and I,” Alford said, “but there was no earth-shattering news that came out of that meeting.”
Alford is coming off a season in which the Bruins finished 21-12, igniting fan angst and leading to an airplane banner being flown over campus reading “Final Fours not First Fours #FireAlford.” Alford said he was not worried about being on the hot seat.
“No,” Alford said. “It doesn’t matter what job I’ve had all the way back to Manchester College, some 29 years ago, I’ve always thought that the seat was hot the day you get hired, so it’s just what coaching is. It doesn’t change who I am as a person or how I go about doing things, it’s just do what you know, do it the best you can and that’s all you can ask and that’s what I’ll ask of myself again.”
Alford’s next act will involve one of the youngest teams in UCLA history. The Bruins roster is expected to include eight freshmen next season after Brown and Campbell joined previous signees Jules Bernard, David Singleton and Kenneth Nwumba, as well as redshirts Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, who are coming off seasonlong suspensions for their role in a shoplifting incident in China.
UCLA also hopes to sign Shareef O’Neal, a power forward from Santa Monica Crossroads High who is the son of former Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal. Anthony Davis, O’Neal’s high school coach, said O’Neal intended to sign with the Bruins in a few weeks after the completion of a few showcase games.
However, Alford’s results in March haven’t always kept pace with the talent he’s been able to secure. His previous recruiting classes were ranked Nos. 5, 11, 24, 7 and 12 nationally; the Bruins finished only two of those subsequent seasons ranked in the top 25 nationally by the Associated Press while making three appearances in an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal.
“If you’re Steve Alford, your argument before this season would be that he did have three Sweet 16s in four years,” said Josh Gershon, a national recruiting analyst for 247sports. com, “and I think if you’re a UCLA fan, your argument would be, ‘Well, we as UCLA fans have always kind of expected more than that.’”