The Steve Alford saga is the latest reminder that big-time college sports are a cesspool of hypocrisy, greed, egotism and misplaced priorities.
In case you’ve been distracted by trivial stories like North Korea threatening to blow up the planet, here’s what happened: Ten days after getting a 10-year, $20 million contract extension from New Mexico, Alford jumped ship for a seven-year, $18.2 million deal with UCLA.
Yes, the same Steve Alford who just last week couldn’t stop blabbing about his love for the Land of Enchantment and how he was looking forward to coaching five returning starters from the Lobos basketball team that lost to Harvard in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
March Madness, indeed.
There are so many villains in this story that it’s hard to know where to stick the pins in the voodoo doll. Who’s the biggest sleazebag here?
Is it Alford, for turning his back on a school that just made a huge commitment to him?
Is it UCLA, for stealing a coach who recently signed a long contract extension with another employer?
Is it the NCAA, which is more concerned about making sure players don’t get a free Big Mac than policing out-of-control coaches and athletic directors?
If you ask me, it’s all of the above.
First, let’s talk about Alford, the Bobby Knight protege who had great success at New Mexico following stints at Iowa, Southwest Missouri State and Division III Manchester. Alford, who led Knight’s 1987 Indiana team to the national championship, compiled a 155-52 record in six seasons at New Mexico and guided the Lobos to four regular-season conference titles and three NCAA Tournaments. (Side note: Pacers fans booed when Indiana passed on him in the first round of the 1987 draft. GM Donnie Walsh instead decided to choose Reggie Miller).
Alford was obviously a hot coaching prospect, which is why New Mexico was anxious to lock him into a long-term commitment. (Nowadays, any coach who wins a couple of NCAA Tournament games — see Andy Enfield — is immediately labeled the next John Wooden and pursued like a Sports Illustrated model.) So what happens? New Mexico gives Alford a lucrative extension, only to see the coach bolt for a better job before the ink was dry on the contract.
Over the weekend, ESPN’s Jay Bilas ranted about the NCAA and university presidents allowing schools to poach coaches while they’re still under contact with other programs. He accused these self-appointed moralists of hypocrisy, which is undeniably true. But what about the coaches themselves? Aren’t they a part of the problem, too? They constantly preach to their players about the importance of rules and responsibilities, but when it comes to their own behavior, the only guideline seems to be career advancement.
Why don’t Bilas and ESPN’s other college basketball boosters ever criticize coaches for their greed and self-centeredness? Could it be because the Worldwide Leader serves as a halfway house for out-of-work coaches and a rest home for retired ones?
When is the last time you heard Dick Vitale blast a coach for putting his own interests ahead of his players or his school? No, he’s too busy praising his buddies as geniuses and humanitarians. Or acting as their informal agents. On the same show on which Bilas lambasted the NCAA, Vitale moaned about what a travesty it was that Tubby Smith and Ben Howland were temporarily out of work. Vitale would have more credibility if he didn’t equate coaches — who are basically glorified gym teachers — with Einstein and Mother Teresa.
Don’t think I’m letting the NCAA off the hook here. It’s a fundamentally corrupt organization that rakes in billions of dollars while pinching pennies with the athletes who create the revenue. However, from a legal standpoint, it’s probably impossible to prevent coaches from switching jobs whenever they want. Until the NCAA deals with the underlying disease – that major-college football and basketball are professional sports masquerading under the banner of amateurism – coaches will act as free agents, always seeking bigger bucks from the highest bidder.
By the way, if college coaches don’t want to be judged strictly on wins and losses, maybe they should consider a pay cut. You can’t have it both ways: be paid like a pro, but given tenure like a teacher. If you want job security, then ditch your multimillion salary and get paid like a history professor.
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Rick Warner is a veteran sportswriter who formerly worked alongside Chris Sheridan at The Associated Press. He now teaches journalism at Rutgers University.