UCLA welcomes Alford
Coach calls job a challenge
LOS ANGELES — Steve Alford calls his new job as UCLA basketball coach “a challenge.”
Alford walked into Pauley Pavilion on Monday for the first time since the 1984 Olympics and took his place under the 11 national championship banners.
He says that he doesn’t think he’ll change who he’s been for the first 22 years of his coaching career now that he’s in charge of the storied program that fellow Hoosier John Wooden built.
He calls his new job “a great, humbling, honorable position.” He hopes he understands the challenge of coaching a program that owns a record 11 national championships and whose fans have high expectations for more.
Alford’s introduction on the floor of Nell and John Wooden Court was greeted by applause from a small audience.
DEVELOPMENTS
Southern Cal hires Enfield: Southern California has hired Andy Enfield as men’s basketball coach after he took Florida Gulf Coast to the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament.
Athletic director Pat Haden said late Monday night that Enfield has reached an agreement to take over at the Pac-12 school.
Haden says Enfield’s success at FGCU wasn’t a flash in the pan and that his uptempo style and stingy defense will be fun for both the Trojans players and fans.
The 43-year-old coach was 41-28 in his two seasons at the Fort Myers, Fla., school. He led the Eagles to a school-record 26 wins this season, including upsets of No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State as a 15th seed in the NCAA tourney.
Enfield takes over from interim coach Bob Cantu, who had a 7-8 record after succeeding Kevin O’Neill, who was fired in mid-January.
Smith introduced at Texas Tech: Tubby Smith’s time at Texas Tech has begun. And he says he will fit in just fine in West Texas, where cowboy hats and cowboy boots are more prominent than at many other places where he’s coached.
“I already have some,” Smith said of his cowboy boots. “I just didn’t bring them with me.”
Texas Tech is counting on Smith to bring the same touch he’s used to revive other programs. Texas Tech hasn’t had a winning conference record since 2006- 07, and it finished 19-43 overall the past two seasons, including a 4-32 mark in the Big 12.
Smith won a national title and five SEC championships in 10 years with Kentucky before leaving for Minnesota in 2007.
Collins takes over at Northwestern: Chris Collins says he’s ready to put his own stamp on a program and vows to build a winner at Northwestern.
The longtime Duke assistant and son of an NBA coach embraced the challenge during Tuesday’s introductory news conference. He promised to to do what no Wildcats coach has done and lead the team to the NCAA tournament.
He also insisted the potential to succeed is there despite the outdated facilities and high academic standards.
With his dad, Doug, watching from the front row, Collins said he’s “not afraid of the work that needs to be done.”
Arizona gets top recruit: Arizona coach Sean Miller has added to what’s shaping up as another stellar recruiting class, landing power forward Aaron Gordon of San Jose, Calif.
Gordon announced Tuesday that he would play for the Wildcats after considering Kentucky, Washington and Oregon.