Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: JERRY NACHTIGAL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, MO. LENGTH: Medium
With 452 victories, the coach obviously knew a little about basketball. A three-time Indiana coach of the year, he'd coached two Indiana Mr. Basketball selections - Alford and Kent Benson - and seen more than 50 of his players go on to play college ball.
Alford knew the coach's home phone number by heart. After all, the coach was none other than his father.
And Sam Alford, after three decades coaching high school, said he'd be proud to join his son.
Father-son coaching duos are rare but not unknown in college basketball. Nolan Richardson III is an assistant to his father at Arkansas, and Sean Sutton assists Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State.
But NCAA statistician Gary Johnson said he knew of no other instance in which a father and son have shared Division I basketball coaching duties with the son holding the top job.
``It's always been a dream of Steve's to coach with his father,'' said his mother, Sharan Alford. ``I guess I never dreamed Steve would be the head coach and his father the assistant.''
If some people view his decision to hire his father as a blatant case of nepotism, Steve Alford says, he's guilty as charged. But he insists there's no one more deserving or qualified.
``There are a great number of high school coaches like my father who have worked their tails off all their career wearing all the hats - coach, parent, classroom teacher - and for one reason or another, never gotten a shot at the collegiate level where you can spend a lot of your time doing what you truly love, and that's basketball,'' Alford said.
``And then we just think he's a great addition to our program, with his knowledge and wisdom and experience and contacts that he has. In my mind, not only is he my father, but he's the best available person for that position.''
At 52, Sam Alford admits he thought his shot at a job as a college basketball coach had long since passed.
``I've been a high school coach for 31 years and had several opportunities early in my career to coach at the college level and bypassed them to coach my sons [Steve and Sean],'' Alford said. ``I never thought it would happen and then boom, here we are.''
It was Sam Alford who gave Steve, a sharpshooting guard who led Indiana to a national title in 1987, his first coaching job. When Steve's NBA career ended in 1991, he went back to his hometown of New Castle, Ind., and was a volunteer assistant to his father for the final month of the season.
``Everyone talks about how he's working for me now, but he reminds me that he kind of saved my career by allowing me to work for him,'' Steve said. ``The only negative of the whole experience was I was working for him for a month and not being paid.''
Steve Alford said he consulted his father ``hundreds of times'' while transforming tiny Manchester (Ind.) College from perennial loser into an NCAA Division III power. Sam Alford even helped recruit a couple players for his son, who led Manchester to a 78-29 record in 31/2 seasons before taking the Southwest Missouri job March 30.
``He didn't miss very many of our games,'' Steve Alford said. His father's knowledge of his team's style of play will be a plus in his new job at Southwest Missouri, Alford added.
Both Alfords said the father's presence won't put added pressure on Steve, who at 30 is the second-youngest coach in Division I basketball. Kenny Cox, Steve's top assistant at Manchester, is also on the Bears' staff with one assistant's job yet to be filled.
``I understand who the boss is. I have no problem with that,'' Sam Alford said. ``Actually, it will be kind of nice after 31 years, when people say `Hey, what's wrong?' I can point my finger at Steve and say, `Ask him. He's the boss.'''
by CNB