| BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Steve Alford, an Indiana schoolboy
sensation who led the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA championship,
returned to Assembly Hall on Tuesday night for the first time as
Iowa coach.
| | Shaky relationship: Iowa coach Steve Alford congratulates Indiana coach Bobby Knight, right, after their game. |
Alford's Hawkeyes fell short, losing 74-71 to the Hoosiers when a last-second 3-pointer bounced off the rim.
Alford was greeted by huge cheers from a standing crowd of more than 17,000 and already was on the court when his former coach, Bob Knight, came out before the tipoff. Knight walked over to the Iowa bench and the two shook hands.
Until a brief, private conversation in Knight's office about 45
minutes before the game, they had not spoken since Alford was hired
at Iowa last March.
The 1983 Indiana high school Mr. Basketball from New Castle played four years for Knight and left as the Big Ten's most
valuable player, a two-time All-American and the Hoosiers' career
scoring leader. His points record was broken six years later by
Calbert Cheaney.
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Tues., Jan. 18
The number one issue is loyalty. Bob Knight teaches it and expects it.
Luke Recker ending up at Iowa has added fuel to the fire in Knight's
relationship with Steve Alford.
Once Alford got the Iowa job, and Recker decided to leave Indiana, the
loyalty factor became a negative in the relationship. Word was that
after Recker's freshman year, he worked at Alford's camp at
Manchester College during the summer with Knight's permission.
At that camp, Alford told me that Recker was unhappy and that he wanted
to transfer then to another school. I asked Alford if he asked Recker to
wait for him to get a big-time job and go with him to that school. Alford
denied that ever happened and specifically spent three hours on a golf
course, with two other Indiana people in the foursome, trying to
convince Recker to go back to Indiana for his sophomore season.
I did ask Alford if there is an escape clause in his contract at Iowa, so
that if Bob Knight leaves at any time, he would have permission to look
into that situation, much like Lou Holtz had an escape clause to go to
Notre Dame from Minnesota if that job became available. Alford told
me he doesn't have anything like that in his contract when I spoke with
him last night.
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Alford played four years in the NBA, then returned to his home state and compiled a 78-29 record in four years as coach at
Manchester College, including 31-1 as NCAA Division III runnerup in
1995. He was 78-48 over the next four years at Southwest Missouri
State, including a loss to Indiana two years ago in Indianapolis.
One of Alford's assistants is his father, Sam Alford, who was his high school coach.
Another former Indiana Mr. Basketball, Luke Recker, left the Hoosiers at the end of last season and transferred to Arizona,
saying he was not happy with his progress as a player under Knight.
But last summer, after an automobile accident in which his
girlfriend was seriously injured, he transferred to Iowa in order
to be closer to home.
Recker, who is not eligible to play for the Hawkeyes until
January 2001, did not accompany the Hawkeyes to Bloomington for
Tuesday night's game.
Knight said earlier there was no special significance coaching against one of his former players.
"Do you realize how many guys I've coached against who either played for me or coached for me?" Knight said. "I'd be an
emotional wreck if I had emotions for every guy who I coached
against who played or coached for me."
On Monday, Alford said he didn't know how to describe their relationship.
"I mean, he's the head coach at Indiana. I'm the head coach at Iowa. I'm not on the phone with a lot of the coaches," he said.
"It's just a situation where I think he's really into his team
right now and I'm really into my team."
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AUDIO/VIDEO
Bobby Knight won't get emotional. RealVideo: 56.6
Bobby Knight is willing to sit down with Steve Alford. avi: 1251 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Steve Alford says that there has been a lot of miscommunication. wav: 124 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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