Steve Alford Says He Doesn't Want the Indiana Job, Which He Wasn't a Candidate For

Indiana fired Archie Miller on Monday and media talking heads started issuing their list of potential hires for the Hoosiers. Nevada head coach and former Indiana All-American Steve Alford almost immediately went public saying he was committed to the Wolf Pack and would not pursue the job at his alma mater. Which is good, because Indiana had absolutely no interest in hiring him.

Alford clearly got wind Indiana had no interest in his services so he contacted some friendly media members to let them know he wasn't interested:

He did that because less than two minutes later, Jeff Goodman reported the following:

Lots of "you can't fire me because I quit" energy emanating from Alford's side of this one. He's modified it to, "you can't reject me if I reject you first!"

Alford did well in six years at New Mexico, but was awful during his five-plus seasons at UCLA. Despite loads of talent he never took the Bruins beyond the Sweet 16 and never won the Pac-12. At Nevada he's gone 34-21 (.618) in two seasons but failed to reach the tournament this year and hasn't built on the success former head coach Eric Musselman had in Reno. He failed at Iowa, failed at UCLA and has yet to do anything of note at Nevada.

I've said for years that despite his deep connection to the school, Alford will never be the head basketball coach at Indiana. He hasn't had enough success on the court to warrant the job and his off-court troubles will follow him for the rest of his career. The Pierre Pierce incident at Iowa has haunted him for more than a decade. And rightfully so.

Before Miller was hired back in 2017, Alford was heavily connected to the opening, but Indiana never even contacted him. I said back then that he wasn't the answer for the program and never will be. I'm glad he's finally realizing that.