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Can Steve Alford, as UNM basketball coach, ever live up to standard his set as Hoosiers player?
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Never enough
Many accomplished basketball players set the bar so high in their prime that disappointment awaits in an administrative/coaching role. University of New Mexico coach Steve Alford won a national championship as a player, so anything less as another title from the sidelines could be considered underwhelming. Here's a list of legendary players who have struggled outside of their uniform.
Clyde Drexler: Clyde the Glide lasted two years as coach of his alma mater, Houston, the team he led to the 1983 NCAA final as a player.
Isiah Thomas: One of the best NBA point guards of all time has disappointed many as general manager and coach of the New York Knicks.
Michael Jordan: Arguably the NBA's best player has nothing but losing records as general manager of the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Bobcats.
Larry Bird: The three-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics coached the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals in 2000, but the team failed to make the playoffs last year with Bird as GM.
Magic Johnson: Dazzling as a player, Johnson coached eight games with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Why Alford The Player matters
Led the Indiana Hoosiers to the national championship in 1987.
Named the 35th-best college player of all time by the Sporting News.
Named one of the college basketball's 20 best shooters of all-time by CBS Sports.
One of Indiana's best high school players, the state's Mr. Basketball in 1983.
Played four seasons in the NBA.
Why Alford The Coach matters
A 308-163 record in 16 collegiate coaching seasons.
One Sweet 16 appearance with Southwest Missouri State.
Two Big Ten Tournament titles in eight seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Seven consecutive winning seasons with Iowa.
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Maybe Steve Alford's player-turned-coach stigma would disappear if he returned to Bloomington to coach his beloved Indiana Hoosiers.
"You could talk to almost anybody here, and they'd probably wish he was the IU coach," said Tom Jarvis, a longtime family friend of the Alfords. "I know I still hear that all the time because of what he did when he played there."
Even in the comfort of an alma mater, however, former stars from college or the NBA face the near-impossible task of eclipsing what they did in a uniform when strolling the sidelines in a suit and tie.
Alford, the newest University of New Mexico men's basketball coach, has had success as a college coach. He led Southwest Missouri State to the Sweet 16. Iowa won two Big Ten tournament titles during Alford's eight-year tenure.
But Alford the player cut nets. He became one of the all-time best players on one of the all-time best college teams, culminating a college playing career with Indiana's national championship in 1987.
A 152-106 record in eight seasons as the Iowa Hawkeyes' coach pales in comparison.
"I think all great players going from the NBA to the coaching ranks, they all face that player-to-coach syndrome," said Sam Alford, Steve's father and a former Indiana high school basketball coach. "But the reason Steve chose basketball as a coach is because it's in his blood. He always wanted to be a basketball coach."
Rumors swirled in 2006 about Alford as a potential candidate for the Indiana job vacated by Mike Davis and eventually occupied by Kelvin Sampson.
Alford never publicly gauged his interest in the job when the Hoosiers were making a hire after the 2006 season, but maybe it's best he stayed at Iowa because of Example A.
Clyde Drexler.
The NBA great led the Houston Cougars to the 1983 National Championship final. He and Hakeem Olajuwon helped Houston earn the nickname Phi Slama Jama.
More than 15 years later, Houston called on Drexler to revive a sagging program. He lasted two seasons with a 19-39 record.
Drexler isn't alone in the class of star players who have struggled with the clipboard.
Isiah Thomas, one of the NBA's best point guards with the Detroit Pistons, is a career 164-164 as coach of the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers.
Most NBA and college coaches played at a high level, but a select few donned the star label in a jersey.
Florida's Billy Donovan, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Ohio State's Thad Matta or Duke's Mike Krzyzewski are household names as coaches, not players.
Even if some former stars succeed - former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals in 2000 - many say the expectation of the player is too difficult to match.
"Even though he's a great coach, most people around here and probably everywhere else will always think of him as Steve Alford in the red-and-white uniform," said Gerad Good, a former player for Alford at Division-III Manchester College. "It might not matter what he does as a coach."
Friends of Alford say he's a challenge-driven man who isn't fazed by comparisons. He just wants to win on a basketball court.
But coaching frustrates Alford the way playing never could, Alford's brother Sean said.
"It's always tough for him to realize that not everybody has the work ethic that he had," said Sean, who played with Steve at New Castle High School in New Castle, Ind. "He worked out five hours a day. It's tough to find kids who love basketball as much as he does. I bet a lot of guys like him struggle with it."
Sam tends to look beyond the reasoning that says Alford The Coach will never compare to his shadow.
Steve is destined for further coaching success because of his work ethic and drive to affect lives, he said.
"He's in the right occupation, because he can reach the right men," Sam said.
