It appears that Steve Alford will stay out west as the former UCLA coach is expected to become the new head coach at Nevada.
According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, Alford is in the midst of finalizing negotiations with the Wolf Pack.
Fired from UCLA this season after a disappointing 7-6 start, Alford made three Sweet 16 appearances in five full seasons as the Bruins’ head coach. But once Alford lost the fanbase with some disappointing seasons (based on recruiting and outside expectations) he never recovered as he was let go right before 2019.
Successful in the Mountain West before his UCLA tenure with New Mexico, Alford took the Lobos to the NIT or NCAA tournament in all six of his seasons as coach -- including the NCAAs in three of the final four seasons.
Also spending time as head coach at Missouri State and Iowa, Alford has taken all four of his Division I programs to the NCAA tournament. Nevada will expect him to maintain the national status that head coach Eric Musselman achieved before taking the open job at Arkansas as the Wolf Pack have been a consistent top-25 presence the past few seasons.