Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Steve Alford might be on his way to restoring The Pit's mojo. Since being hired in March, Alford has recruited a top-10 class for 2008, beaten New Mexico State as well as his ex-coach Bob Knight, fired up a home crowd of more than 17,000 and guided the Lobos to a 12-2 record. He's already helping the program bounce back from the underwhelming - or worse - tenures of Fran Frachilla and Ritchie McKay.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Steve Alford voices his displeasure to Lobos center Daniel Faris. Alford was plucked from a short list of candidates to take the head coaching job at New Mexico. He was a champion as both player and coach, and the Lobos are 12-2 heading into Mountain West Conference play this season.

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When your name comes with a $1 million pricetag, you make the news.

It gets people's attention. It forms opinions.

Are you worth it?

When you are a former Mr. (Indiana) Basketball, a former NCAA champion, a former All-American, a former U.S. Olympic gold winner, a former NBA player, a former Big 10 coach, you have a pedigree that doesn't usually show up on the r‚sum‚ of a University of New Mexico coach.

You get lots of headlines.

When you are handed the keys to The Pit, when you are asked to turn UNM's cash cow back into, well, a cash cow, you automatically are the best known state employee in New Mexico.

Sorry, Gov. Richardson.

And when your first-year Lobos are 12-2 and already starting to look like postseason material, you just might be New Mexico taxpayers' most beloved employee.

Sorry, Mayor Chavez.

Picking The Trib sports staff's 2007 Newsmaker of the Year was almost a no-brainer. Even The Linz could have gotten this one right.

Alford's name was plucked out of a hat of not very big names when he was asked to dust away the ashes left by Ritchie McKay and re-ignite the fire and the passion of The Pit.

Not exactly an easy chore. In a way, Alford was asked to blow into the cooling embers left by two coaches - McKay and Fran Frachilla.

There was a bit of controversy surrounding the March hire. Alford was written off as a poor choice by one Albuquerque newspaper columnist. Many Lobo fans did not want to pick up a refugee coach who appeared to be one step ahead of the posse at Iowa.

But Alford's background and his name gave UNM instant appeal and attention on the national level. He coached at Iowa. He won two Big 10 tourneys. He's a Bobby Knight guy.

He puts sticky stuff into his curls, wears expensive Italian suits and works the sidelines like no Lobo coach before except for maybe "Stormin" Norm Ellenberger.

The Lobos needed him - needed to bring some style and sizzle back to The Pit.

Alford made headlines with his hire. He made headlines by lining up some hot recruits for 2008-09. He made headlines by being associated with all the things that are Lobo:

J.R. Giddens not making the summer trip to the Bahamas.

Tony Danridge breaking his leg.

Lobos getting slapped by the NCAA and maybe losing a scholarship.

Lobos getting spanked by New Mexico State in Las Cruces.

Lobos getting even in The Pit.

Bobby Knight coming to town and bringing national TV with him.

Yeah, it's all good. But what gets your attention most is the 12 wins and the bodies recapturing empty seats in The Pit.

It's not that Alford is winning games with "his" guys. Alford has six Lobos who were left behind by McKay. This might be Alford's least talented team since his 17-14 Iowa team of 2002-03. Or his 4-16 Manchester team of 1992-93.

But the word is out that Alford's Lobos give honest effort, play defense, take care of the ball, take good shots and play like a team.

And UNM's 83-69 win over NMSU on Dec. 19 was orchestrated in front of 17,243 obnoxious fans. It was a "Pit" game - at last.

Alford showed us why he is worth his paycheck in that game. By slapping down the Aggies.

By overreacting to a nothing call against his Lobos about one minute into the game and almost drawing a technical foul, he got fans off their butts for the next 39 minutes.

Brilliant.

Just what you expect from a Trib Newsmaker of the Year.