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Hawkeyes, fans bid farewell to Alford

Pierce incident, record hurt Iowa ex-coach

By Iliana Limón
Friday, March 23, 2007

The Alford File

Who: Stephen "Steve" Todd Alford

What: Expected to be named the University of New Mexico's men's basketball coach at a news conference today at the UNM Student Union Building.

Age: 42.

At Iowa (1999-to-present): 152-106 in eight seasons; 52-77 overall on road; 100-29 at home; 61-67 in Big Ten; Seven straight winning seasons; Three NCAA Tournaments (1-3); Two Big Ten tourney titles; 13-6 in Big Ten tourney.

At Manchester College (1991-95): 78-29 in four seasons; went 74-13 in final three seasons; League champs 1994, 1995; League tourney champs 1993, 1994, 1995.

At Southwest Missouri State (1995-1999): 78-48 in four seasons; Advanced to NCAA Sweet 16 in 1999.

High school: New Castle Chrysler (Ind.) High; Indiana's Mr. Basketball in 1983 averaging 37 points per game.

College: Indiana (1983-87); 4-time team MVP; First Team All-American; Big 10 MVP; 1987 national champions.

NBA: Played for Dallas and Golden State.

Did you know: The Lobos play Iowa in the 2007-08 season; Ex-Lobo coach Bob King was an assistant at Iowa.

Alford's Iowa record

1999-2000: 14-16 overall, 6-10 Big Ten; Tied for eight in conference

2000-01: 23-12 overall, 7-9 Big Ten; Tied for sixth in conference

2001-02: 19-16 overall, 5-11 Big Ten; Tied for eighth in conference

2002-03: 17-14 overall, 7-9 Big Ten; Tied for eighth in conference

2003-04: 16-13 overall, 9-7 in Big Ten; Fourth in conference

2004-05: 21-12 overall, 7-9 in Big Ten; Seventh in conference

2005-06: 25-9 overall, 11-5 in Big Ten; Tied for second in conference

2006-07: 17-14 overall, 9-7 in Big Ten; Tied for fourth in conference

Dwindling fans

Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena has a capacity of 15,500. Here's a look at the arena's attendance figures during coach Steve Alford's tenure showing season, home record and average attendance:

1999-00 9-4; 15,156

2000-01 12-4; 15,500

2001-02 13-4; 15,207

2002-03 11-7; 13,235

2003-04 11-3; 12,977

2004-05 13-3; 11,901

2005-06 17-0; 12,006

2006-07 14-2; 12,196

Lowest before Alford's arrival: 13,963 in 1998-99 season when Hawkeyes went 11-5 at home

Biggest blemish

Along with a weak NCAA Tournament record, then-Iowa coach Steve Alford was blasted for the way he handled sexual assault charges against star player Pierre Pierce. Here's a timeline of Pierce's legal woes:

Oct. 1, 2002: Pierce is charged with third-degree sexual assault, a felony. He is suspended from the team. Alford repeatedly defends Pierce, stating, "I totally believe he's innocent. I believed it from Day One and I still believe it."

Nov. 1, 2002: Pierce's attorneys reach a settlement and he pleads guilty to a lesser charge, assault causing injury, and publicly apologizes to the victim. He is sentenced to 200 hours community service, counseling and one year of probation. He redshirts the 2002-03 season. Students, faculty and fans protest the decision, arguing Pierce got special treatment and the victim was a female athlete at the school pressured to drop charges against Pierce.

Jan. 30, 2003: A committee formed by interim Iowa president Sandy Boyd finds the school made errors in judgment handling the Pierce case and suggests new guidelines for handling future sexual assault allegations involving students.

August 2003: Pierce returns to the men's basketball team.

Feb. 2, 2005: Alford dismisses Pierce from the team after Iowa City police confirm the athlete is being investigated in connection with the assault of a woman. "I regret this step is necessary, but Pierre has betrayed the trust we placed in him when he was given a second chance two years ago," Alford said.

Feb. 9, 2005: Pierce is arraigned on charges of burglary, domestic violence, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment and criminal mischief. He eventually is sentenced to two years in prison, ordered to pay $2,650 in restitution and was required to register for Iowa's sex offender registry. Pierce ended up serving 11 months in prison and is still on probation in Iowa.

Source: Associated Press

Some say he was doomed from the beginning.

Others argue it was a series of rookie mistakes that tarnished Steve Alford's luster.

Regardless of their theories, many Iowa hoops fans agree it's best Alford and the Hawkeyes are parting ways today. Alford is scheduled to be introduced as the University of New Mexico men's basketball coach during a news conference this afternoon.

Alford will get the clean slate he apparently wanted after a tumultuous eight-year tenure at Iowa and the Hawkeyes can hunt for a coach who just might meet their expectations.

"He actually improved a lot as a coach, but he never could overcome the way things started," said Todd Brommelkamp, editor of Iowa fan site the hawkeyereport.com. "Sometimes, it's just better to move on because you can't change fans' impressions of you. Right or wrong, I think Steve Alford was behind the 8 ball here from the get-go."

The first signs of trouble can be traced to the day Alford sauntered into Iowa City, Iowa.

He had a substantial hoops résumé anyone would envy. Alford led Indiana to a national championship under a team coached by icon Bobby Knight and turned in a respectable NBA career. Then he thrived in the coaching ranks, leading Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) to the Sweet 16 before taking over the Hawkeyes program.

Iowa officials and Alford tried to cash in on his superstar status, promising he would take Hawkeyes hoops to the next level. They promised Big 10 Conference regular season championships and runs to NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

Early in his career there, Alford showed he might actually be able to win big.

He opened with an upset of defending national champion Connecticut in Madison Square Garden. During his second season, the Hawkeyes made a surprising run to the Big 10 tournament title and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Then Alford's teams sputtered.

He never won a conference regular season championship and couldn't make it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Dr. Tom Davis, the steady but staid coach Alford replaced, never lost in the first round of the NCAAs. He posted a better tournament record during his final season than Alford did during his eight seasons at Iowa.

"I think people could have tolerated a lot of things from Steve Alford, but they just couldn't take it when he didn't win anywhere near as much as they expected," said Mike Hlas, a columnist at The Gazette in Iowa City. "In his second year he won the Big Ten conference tournament and there was this optimism for the future, but it never got better. He just didn't win enough to keep fans' support."

At the start of Alford's third season, a soap opera began that would haunt the remainder of his tenure.

Iowa star Pierre Pierce, the Hawkeyes' best player, was charged with third-degree sexual assault on Oct. 1, 2002.

A fellow athlete at the school accused Pierce of raping her. She went to a hospital soon after the altercation and authorities obtained DNA evidence from the attack.

Pierce was suspended from the team, but Alford made a statement that critics still repeat from memory five years later. Alford said, "I totally believe he's innocent. I believed it from Day One and I still believe it."

Lawyers negotiated a plea bargain in the case, with Pierce pleading guilty to the lesser charge of assault causing injury and apologizing to the victim. He was sentenced to 200 hours community service, counseling and one year probation.

"He really killed his reputation with the way he handled the Pierce incident," said Pat Harty, a columnist for the Iowa Press-Citizen.

Pierce redshirted the 2002-03 season but was an active member of the team, sitting on the bench in street clothes during games.

The plea bargain sparked student, faculty and fan protests. They argued the school acted unfairly and pressured the female athlete. It was the first of many times a large group of fans would call for Alford to be fired.

In January 2003, a committee formed by interim Iowa president Sandy Boyd found the school made errors in judgment while handling the Pierce case but stopped short of stating he received favoritism because he was an athlete.

In 2003, the Web site firestevealford.com was launched. The heat generated by outraged fans grew so intense, Iowa officials recently bought domain names of comparable sites affiliated with their other major coaches to avoid future trouble.

Pierce returned to the men's basketball team in August 2003 and resumed his role as Alford's go-to-player.

He told reporters he had grown from his redshirt season, but Pierce got into trouble again two years later.

On Feb. 2, 2005, Alford dismissed Pierce from the team when Iowa City police confirmed the player was the subject of an assault investigation.

Pierce was arraigned a week later on charges of burglary, domestic violence, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment and criminal mischief following an altercation with a woman who said she was ex-girlfriend.

He eventually was sentenced to two years in prison, ordered to pay $2,650 in restitution and was required to register as a sex offender in Iowa. Pierce ended up serving 11 months in prison and is still on probation in Iowa.

"The Pierce case was terribly hurtful and divisive in this community," said Karla Miller, executive director of a rape victim advocacy program in Iowa City. "The university's reaction was very troubling. We wish nothing like this would ever happen, but I like to think everyone in our community learned a great deal from it."

As Alford's teams struggled to win games in the Big Ten and deal with the Pierce case, support for the men's basketball program dwindled.

During his final five seasons, Alford posted the worst attendance in the history of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which has a capacity of 15,500 fans.

The lowest point was the 2004-05 season, when Iowa drew 11,901 fans per game.

The previous low before Alford's arrival was 13,963 fans during the 1998-99 season.

Observers said Alford learned from the Pierce incident and the dwindling fan support. Rather than shutting others out, he opened himself up more to reporters and fans.

They also said the 2004 hiring of assistant coach Craig Neal - a former NBA assistant coach and high school teammate of Alford - gave the program a major shot in the arm. Neal was considered a stronger recruiter who forged better connections with players.

Alford made a relatively strong final push as coach. Two years ago, he took a team that people figured would be mediocre and pushed it to a second-place finish in the Big Ten. Hawkeye fans were back on Alford's side but support quickly fizzled when the team squandered a No. 3 seed and was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I thought he did a tremendous coaching job the past two seasons, but the bar had been set really high around here and he had a hard time meeting fan expectations," said Kevin Krause, president of the Iowa athletics booster club called the National I-Club.

Fans' disdain for Alford reached a boiling point again at the end of the 2006-07 season when Iowa failed to reach the postseason.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta gave Alford a public rebuke and ultimatum March 12, telling reporters he would not accept another rebuilding season and Alford had one season to mold the Hawkeyes back into a contender.

"After Gary Barta made those comments, Iowa coaches had a hard time on the recruiting trail," said Brommelkamp. "Steve knew he couldn't win back people's support here and looked for a better opportunity elsewhere.

"I think he learned an awful lot here, but Iowa fans already made up their mind he wasn't the guy who could take us to the next level. They expected a lot more out of Steve Alford, and he just never could deliver."