Bilas, Dickie V cite "integrity" in Alf's departure to UCLA

[HawkeyeNTexas]

money outrules all judgement. Money talks. Things need to change, but they never will.

On another side note...I believe people will still be talking about Alford on this website 10 years from now. Let it go, please.

 

[LawVHawk]

money outrules all judgement. Money talks. Things need to change, but they never will.

On another side note...I believe people will still be talking about Alford on this website 10 years from now. Let it go, please.

It'd be a real kick in the shorts if it was because he just won his third national championship in a row...

Fortunately, I don't think that will be the case.

 

[UrbandaleHawk01]

I care what Bilas has to say. He's one of, if not THE best, college basketball analysts out there.

Doug Gottlieb says hi.

All joking aside, I think Bilas is way overrated. I'm not sure why he gets so much cred. He's just another bloviated talking head at the mothership. Granted, he's not as douchey as most of them. So there's that.

 

[TritonHawkeye]

I for one am intrigued with this move. Alford is leaving a place that he was loved, to a place that is at odds with his hire.

This will be the first time since he was at Iowa that he has felt this kind of heat and dislike. If he isn't good quick or if the FCGU coach out recruits him in CA. I could see him buckling from the pressure. The guy hates being challenged in the press and is going somewhere that they will brutalize him...I think he went to the wrong place and I hope that I am right.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I for one am intrigued with this move. Alford is leaving a place that he was loved, to a place that is at odds with his hire.

This will be the first time since he was at Iowa that he has felt this kind of heat and dislike. If he isn't good quick or if the FCGU coach out recruits him in CA. I could see him buckling from the pressure. The guy hates being challenged in the press and is going somewhere that they will brutalize him...I think he went to the wrong place and I hope that I am right.

I tell you one thing, Alford had better be ready to produce in the post-season out there. That program EXPECTS to win. They just fired a coach that took them to three Final Fours. So Stevie Wonder had better figure out how to get that program where it expects to be. Even getting to Sweet 16's or Elite 8's won't be enough. I don't see that ending well for him out there unless the guy surrounds himself with great assistants who can really coach.

And yeah, bush league move to agree to a 10 year extensions at UNM (I don't care if he actually officially signed the contract or not) and then bolt when a better offer comes along.

 

[kicker22]

money outrules all judgement. Money talks. Things need to change, but they never will.

On another side note...I believe people will still be talking about Alford on this website 10 years from now. Let it go, please.

While I agree with this, I think this situation would draw interest regardless of who the coach was. Not very often that anyone signs a 10 year contract extension and within days decides to unexpectedly jump ship. Regardless of the hatred Alford still has on this board, I think it would be an issue regardless of who the coach was even if he had no affiliation with our program.

 

[kicker22]

I tell you one thing, Alford had better be ready to produce in the post-season out there. That program EXPECTS to win. They just fired a coach that took them to three Final Fours. So Stevie Wonder had better figure out how to get that program where it expects to be. Even getting to Sweet 16's or Elite 8's won't be enough. I don't see that ending well for him out there unless the guy surrounds himself with great assistants who can really coach.

Also wouldn't hurt to avoid the #3 seeds at all costs. Rumor has it its been somewhat of an achilles heel for him.
And yeah, bush league move to agree to a 10 year extensions at UNM (I don't care if he actually officially signed the contract or not) and then bolt when a better offer comes along.

 

[homes]

I get tired of lawyers being talked about like they have no sense of ethics. SOMEBODY has to do the job they do. Without them, the entire justice system breaks down and we can just as well start up an American Gestapo.

That was the motivation behind "Kill all the lawyers", it's often misinterpreted to be a derogatory comment about lawyers.

 

[storminspank]

Doug Gottlieb says hi.

All joking aside, I think Bilas is way overrated. I'm not sure why he gets so much cred. He's just another bloviated talking head at the mothership. Granted, he's not as douchey as most of them. So there's that.

I like Doug G too.

 

[Stanzi]

I don't have any bitterness towards Alford. Yea, he was an arrogant jerk, and yea we underperformed in the NCAA tournament, but at least we got there a few times. If I was going to have bitterness towards anyone it would be Lickliter for the way he drove the program into the ground, got up and jumped on it to push it further in the ground, and then urinated on it. As far as Alford's concerned I'd be surprised if he's still at UCLA in 5 years.

 

[Billso]

I'm long past the Alford days and am not bitter by any means. I wish him the best of luck, but that said in my opinion it's a classless move on his part to sign a ten year extension and then to jump ship before the ink had time to stop drying. If he wanted to pursue bigger things that's one thing, but there was no excuse for him to ever sign the extension. in the first place. IMO it shows major lack of character on his part.

I am just laughing at this thread.

I despise Alford, but there is nothing remotely classless or unethical in what he did, unless he had been approached about the UCLA job before agreeing to the contract. This is a business. There is no loyalty either way, and nobody talks about a school's "ethics" in firing coaches. So Alford is supposed to not entertain offers for 6 months or a year after signing, for appearances' sake? PLEASE.

If UNM didn't want to lose him, then a) negotiate a bigger buyout and b) get the freakin' contract signed promptly. No sympathy. None.

It's UCLA, the most storied basketball program in the nation, and a huge step up from UNM (plus Albuquerque is a sh**hole). Alford would be a blithering idiot not to take the job.

 

[homes]

I like Doug G too.

What was it that Gottlieb said that caused Barkley to come to his defense over the weekend in response to some comments made on Twitter? I only heard Barkley tell people to stop getting your undies in a bunch, but didn't catch the original comment from Gottlieb.

 

[Stanzi]

I am just laughing at this thread.

I despise Alford, but there is nothing remotely classless or unethical in what he did, unless he had been approached about the UCLA job before agreeing to the contract. This is a business. There is no loyalty either way, and nobody talks about a school's "ethics" in firing coaches. So Alford is supposed to not entertain offers for 6 months or a year after signing, for appearances' sake? PLEASE.

If UNM didn't want to lose him, then a) negotiate a bigger buyout and b) get the freakin' contract signed promptly. No sympathy. None.

It's UCLA, the most storied basketball program in the nation, and a huge step up from UNM (plus Albuquerque is a sh**hole). Alford would be a blithering idiot not to take the job.

Yea, I don't blame Alford at all. UCLA is one of the best jobs in the country, and now he won't be living in the middle of New Mexico which has to be a plus for his family. His wife can shop on Rodeo Drive, and his children can attend Pepperdine to further the snobbery.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I get tired of lawyers being talked about like they have no sense of ethics. SOMEBODY has to do the job they do. Without them, the entire justice system breaks down and we can just as well start up an American Gestapo.

You'll have better luck finding a yellow feather in a haystack then an ethical lawyer that gets up on tv spouting off about how someone else isn't being ethical. Even if he's on the right side of this issue it doesn't mean he's clean in other things he's said thought or done. I agree they are a necessary evil. Yet evil they are

 

[JHHawk]

New Mexico and SA announced an agreement,but it was not signed. Until then, it means nothing really.
So, UCLA approaches him in the meantime...yes, he can talk to them and if offered take the job.
This is how it works. It is how Iowa got Mr. Davis from Stanford,and Fran from Siena.

As for UCLA...I will say that if SA can talk everyone but Shabbazz into staying, he will have some nice talent to work with. Drew is a senior,but otherwise, they have everyone else back. Adams,Parker, Anderson,Ware Bros...that is not chopped liver. I could see SA making a run at the Final Four by his second year,if he is worth his salt. Maybe not,but he is working with far better talent than he had at New Mexico and Iowa.

 

[AHawk1]

I care what Bilas has to say. He's one of, if not THE best, college basketball analysts out there.

Plus he hates the NCAA as much as I do and constantly exposes them.

 

[Billso]

his children can attend Pepperdine to further the snobbery.

The University of Spoiled Children would be the pinnacle of snobbery. Pepperdine is more like "I didn't have the grades to get into the UC system and daddy didn't have the dough for USC"

And Steve's son Kory will be playing next year at UNM if he doesn't transfer to UCLA.

 

[blubberhawk]

Doug Gottlieb says hi.

All joking aside, I think Bilas is way overrated. I'm not sure why he gets so much cred. He's just another bloviated talking head at the mothership. Granted, he's not as douchey as most of them. So there's that.

Agreed..
And ESPN talking about ethics???

They seem to employ quite a few coaches who were sorely lacking in the area of "ethics".

Lou Holtz & Bruce Pearl to name a couple.

Alford is in that same category.

 

[OBhawk]

The University of Spoiled Children would be the pinnacle of snobbery. Pepperdine is more like "I didn't have the grades to get into the UC system and daddy didn't have the dough for USC"

And Steve's son Kory will be playing next year at UNM if he doesn't transfer to UCLA.

Kory is going to UCLA.
.

 

[kicker22]

I am just laughing at this thread.

I despise Alford, but there is nothing remotely classless or unethical in what he did, unless he had been approached about the UCLA job before agreeing to the contract. This is a business. There is no loyalty either way, and nobody talks about a school's "ethics" in firing coaches. So Alford is supposed to not entertain offers for 6 months or a year after signing, for appearances' sake? PLEASE.

If UNM didn't want to lose him, then a) negotiate a bigger buyout and b) get the freakin' contract signed promptly. No sympathy. None.

It's UCLA, the most storied basketball program in the nation, and a huge step up from UNM (plus Albuquerque is a sh**hole). Alford would be a blithering idiot not to take the job.

Guess our opinions differ, but IMO for a coach to be working on structuring his contract or signing an extension days before their biggest game of the seaon, IMO is a joke. He should have had other things on his mind to be preparing for other than contract extensions. That said, the fact he signed when he did to me was a classless jester IMO which was topped the minute that he signed with UCLA. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing, but its an extension. If your not willing to commit don't sign the extension. Obviously he felt the NM money was good enough to sign the extension in the first place, so if your having second thoughts or feel that its a good time to jump ship then don't sign.

I guess I'm just nieve, but if I'm in his shoes, I don't sign a contract extension midseason, days before the tournament starts, if I don't intend on staying there. I have no problems with anyone disagreeing with me, but IMO had his contract expired or had he done everything after his team lost its a non issue. And once again it appears as though based on the results that he may not have spent enough time preparing for that #14 seed, maybe he was to busy focusing on other things (ie. meaningless extensions).

Congrats to UCLA though, they got the guy they wanted when the guys they wanted were no longer available. Maybe they'll get their top choice once they show him the door in a few years.