April 2, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Krebs’ ChecklistAD Has Measuring Stick for Lobo Men’s BasketballBY MARK SMITH, Journal Staff Writer
A little more than a year ago, University of New Mexico athletics director Paul Krebs fired men’s basketball coach Ritchie McKay.
During his coaching search, he made his expectations public. Krebs said he wanted a coach to, among other things: go undefeated at home, at least .500 on the road and have his bunch mentally tough; to return fans back to the Pit; to be community minded; to win Mountain West Conference titles and contend for the NCAA Tournament; to be media savvy and quotable; to restore discipline; to have a team that played hard-nosed defense and was exciting to watch; to graduate players and to make the program strong academically.
In March 2007, Krebs hired Steve Alford away from Iowa to fill those expectations.
And how did the first-year coach do according to Krebs’ checklist?
Some can be seen in black and white. Alford led UNM to a 24-9 record and a third-place finish in the MWC at 11-5, a dramatic turnaround from the previous year under McKay.
But UNM lost its first game of the MWC tournament and was a fifth seed in the NIT, losing its openinground game 68-66 at Cal.
Attendance in the Pit rose from 12,853 in 2006-07 to 14,361 this season. The players had no public legal woes and Lobo basketball was again buzzing in Albuquerque.
On Monday, Krebs announced Alford had agreed to a three-year extension that would take him through the 2015-16 season, keeping his pay at about $1 million a year.
During the past week, the athletics director talked to the Journal in a trio of interviews about the direction of the program.
Mark Smith: Previous coaching staffs have been criticized for too much whining at the officials. Alford seemed to spend much more time coaching than griping about the refs. Is that important to you?
Paul Krebs: Alford and his staff have brought a sense of professionalism, a sense of class that they’ve been there before. Their decorum, their coaching and their actions on the sidelines suggest that they’ve been in big games. They know how to handle it. Steve works the officials in his own way, and it’s been very successful. But he’s not a guy who, a lot of times, is crying about official’s calls. He gets his point across when he feels he needs to.
His postgame comments, which is a tough situation for any coach, to me, they exude confidence. He’s comfortable in that environment, poised in that environment. And I think that’s reflected in how we preform, particularly on the road. With the exception of BYU and UNLV, we were right there in every road game — poised and composed.
“The players didn’t seem to get rattled and I think that’s a reflection of the demeanor and confidence our coaches have.
Smith : You wanted a .500 record on the road. The Lobos won eight road games, as many as in the previous five seasons combined, and lost just two at home. Successful?
Krebs: The record on the road, to me, is an indication of toughness — of composure, of physical and mental toughness. We want to be better than .500, but I bet if you went undefeated at home and .500 on road, you would be first or second just about every year in this conference. That’s my guess. BYU (14-2 in MWC) was an exception this year.
Smith: Are you recapturing the fan base as you had hoped?
Krebs: Actually, it’s more than just winning or losing. Winning will turn people back on, but it’s how you play. Are we fundamentally sound? Are we exciting to watch? Do we give great effort — which we did. I can’t think of a game where we didn’t get the majority of loose balls, win the hustle plays. Fans love that stuff, and they should.
Smith: Alford’s contract states he gets $250,000 a year for promoting the program and the school in the community and speaking to various groups, and that he has involvement in the community. What does that include, and has he done what you expected?
Krebs: “Given the time that Steve’s had, I think he’s done an outstanding job. One of his first moves when he got here (in April 2007), if I recall, was to get the local high school coaches out to a practice (in the spring). That’s part of reaching out to the community, our fans, to the alumni, to the high schools, to those who support basketball in general, and the Lobos in specific.
Steve’s been down to Hobbs for an event, he’s gone to the capital with me. He’s had a chance to meet with the governor. We’ve had some alumni functions, meet-and-greet with donors.
When you figure all the things he’s been doing the first year, and the pace he’s been on, I think he’s done a really good job at that. It’s been a real balancing act at times, with the recruiting and the coaching and the teaching.
Smith: How about giving back to the community in terms of charities?
Krebs: I can’t speak to that. I don’t know, but the Alfords, the Flanagans and the Krebs (each and their wives) are hosting a Coaches Versus Cancer in May, working with the American Cancer Society here locally to support that. Steve is lending his name to a Special Olympics golf outing. He’s done that at Iowa for years and other places. I’m sure he’s done a lot more than I’m actually aware.
Smith: Why is there no buyout clause in Alford’s contract?
Krebs: You want people who want to be here. I don’t want somebody with an anchor around their neck. We want a positive situation. There is an annuity ($100,000 a year Alford doesn’t get until he been at the school five years) that works kind of like a buyout.
Smith: You wanted a conference contender. You got that in year one. What’s the next step?
Krebs: We talked about improving our recruiting, enhancing the recruiting, not just the kids you’re bringing in, but the effort they put in to the recruiting initiative. They really, really work hard. Often, the day after a game, they’d get on a flight somewhere to recruit.
We talked about raising our national profile, the attention we get with national media, the visibility. It comes with success and winning, but it also comes with having a wellknown name coach. I think we’ve gotten back in the national spotlight because of him and the success that we’ve had.
Smith: In terms of dealing with the media, Alford has seldom, if ever, been defensive. But he isn’t very accessible. How has he measured up to those expectations?
Krebs: I thought Ritchie (McKay) was too accessible. Ritchie was an interesting contrast in some ways, but I think, most importantly, this coaching staff is very comfortable in the spotlight. They’re comfortable sitting down in front of the media and answering questions. I know, it’s a lot easier to answer those when you’re winning more than your losing.
But the idea is that you’re in the spotlight, that you’ll be on the front page of the paper every day, and you’re going to be calling into talk radio and all the things that go into the major programs. You’re in a state where you’re the dominant news story, and I think they’re very comfortable in that environment and how to work in that environment.
That comes from having experience, having seen that as a player at Indiana, as a coach in the Big Ten, having played in the NBA. You’re not going to back away from that glare and that spotlight. I’m sure you figure out how to make that work to your advantage and your program’s advantage.
I always sensed that coach McKay was just not quite comfortable with that aspect of being a coach at the University of New Mexico. And a place like the University of New Mexico and our basketball program, you’ve got to be very comfortable in the spotlight because you’re going to be in the spotlight. It’s not a place where you can shy away from that. It’s just not going to work.
Smith: The program’s Academic Progress Rating was dismal and seems to be turning around. Are you pleased with the academic progress?
Krebs: The big thing academically, is kids need to understand that going to class is part of the package. To play the game, you’ve got to practice and practice hard, and you’ve got to go to class. Those are non-negotiable. That was something that was my expectation when we were hiring. It’s something that our coaching staff has been consistent in doing. They enforce it.
Along those same lines is a sense of accountability. I thought we got a little sloppy in the program (under McKay), I thought, how we dressed. The pride, the respect the accountability, how you manage the program, your expectations for those in and around the program, I think we’ve restored that.
Smith: You mean like wearing torn tee shirts in pregame shootarounds with things written on them in magic marker, like they did in the past?
Krebs: When I got here, if I heard it once, I heard it 10 times about guys at events, a football game or something, with their hats on sideways, with their shirt tails hanging out, looking sloppy. Sure, that’s kids being kids. But that gets instilled with sense of accountability. You’re representing our program. We’re trying to create an expectation of how we’re going to run our program.
Smith: As it turns it out, it appears the team’s NCAA chances were hurt by its nonconference schedule. What are the goals in scheduling?
Krebs: It’s tough to look at scheduling in a vacuum, because in a typical Mountain West Conference season, you wouldn’t have had an 0-16 team (Colorado State). We had two teams at the bottom of our league (Wyoming and CSU) that really sucked our league down in terms of strength of schedule, conference RPI.
Number one, our league needs to get better, and with all the change of coaches, you’re going to see our league get better and better. The teams in our league need to play more competitive schedules. … I think coach Alford has a sketch, we need to see it play out.
But playing power conference schools in neutral-site tournaments, trying to get a select number of good home opponents and having less games against bottom-end teams (will help). We’re trying to get games against regional opponents, but they aren’t excited about playing us.
My experience is, it’s better to be real good or real bad. People will play you at either end. It’s that midrange when people back away from you. They play if you’re bad in order to win. And if you’re really good, they know it won’t hurt their RPI if they lose. In the middle, people shy away from you.
Smith: Given the success this season, it had to be a jolt, a reality-check about how the league and UNM is thought of nationally when you only got a fifth seed in the NIT?
Krebs: I don’t think there’s any question. I know I was surprised at the fifth seed and those of us around the program were surprised. A 24-win season, we thought, was more deserving of that. The fact we won eight road games and finished on a high note, I think we were jolted, disappointed, somewhat surprised that we we’re a fifth seed. I would have loved to have gotten a shot at playing at home. I think the outcome would have been very different.
Smith: How much will the new TV deal (with The Mtn. getting picked up by DirecTV) help?
Krebs: It can only get better as we get satellite distribution. I think CBS is cross-promoting well. It’s important. TV influences how people are viewing the league.
Smith: And the Pit renovations?
Krebs: They are coming along very, very well. We’re making very good progress with a completion date set for December of 2010.
Smith: So where’s the program heading?
Krebs: I think, we collectively, the university, our board of regents, our president, our fans, the coaching staff, are trying to put together a program that allows for us to have success — the kind of program coaches talk about. We have an outstanding facility, one of the great arenas in the country.
… Look at our fan base, we’re going to be 16th or 17th in attendance in the country. And it’s not just people in the building, it’s the loud, passionate intense environment our fans create.
You look at the money we’ve invested in our coaching staff, look at the fact it is a basketball community, a state that loves basketball. I look at that total package we have and I don’t see a whole lot of programs that are better. I’m not naive, yeah the Kansases, the UCLAs, there are people out there with the history. But with our package, I hope we get to the point where we’re as good as many of the so-called BCS schools.
Memphis has proven it can be done. Gonzaga, on a smaller scale, has proven it can be done. Our goal is that here in Albuquerque, the situation has aligned itself to where we have the opportunity where we can prove we can do that. Time will tell whether I’m right or wrong.
Smith: With that package, how confident are you in Alford staying through his entire contract?
Krebs: We want to create a situation where people know they can come here and have success — “why would I leave.” I’m not speaking for coach Alford, but what we’re trying to do is position the program where we can attract guys like Steve Alford, and they come here because it’s a great place. That they want to be here and they know they can accomplish their goals and our goals at a place like New Mexico.
They don’t have to leave here to go to the next level. We are that next level.