The Fraud That Is Steve Alford

They are snickering in Iowa, and why not? Steve Alford left the Hawkeye program after the 2006-07 season for — of all places — New Mexico. The good people of Albuquerque thought they had pulled one off, getting a coach from a Big Ten team, but they are finding out what Iowans have known for years. Alford is a fraud.

The latest damning piece of evidence against Alford came late Sunday night in Cancun, where the Lobos lost to Drake, 68-62, dropping New Mexico's record to 3-4. Matching last season's 24-9 record is going to be next to impossible and it would appear the best the Lobos can hope for is a trip to the NIT, something Alford made a regular practice of during his eight seasons at Iowa.

Despite his public embracing of Albuquerque, posters on several message boards suggest Alford has expressed interest in the Arizona job. In Iowa, they call this keeping one step ahead of the posse, something the coach denied he was doing with he left the Hawkeye State for the Land of Enchantment.

"I just felt like at that time in my life, New Mexico was a better move," Alford told Andrew Logue of the Des Moines Register. "I still feel that way."

In eight seasons at Iowa, Alford won all of one NCAA tournament game. He's remembered for consistently blaming players for the losing and calling Iowa a football school after he left.

"Steve Alford is an all-American young man and he left because he couldn't take the pressure," said Bill Krause, a Des Moines businessman and Alford's friend, during a 2007 interview. "It was around him everywhere and in everything he did."

Alford's second New Mexico team features seven freshmen, so in many ways his thumbprint is already on the program.

"It's going to take some time," Alford said. "We're a youthful team trying to find our way."

And the coach might be trying to find his way ... out of town.