Steve Alford is giving coaching one final season.
The Nevada coach announced Thursday that he will retire after the 2026-27 season, bringing a 36-year career on the sideline to an end.
“After 36 years, I feel like this is the right time to step away from the bench,” Alford said in a statement, via the Associated Press. “I am looking forward to finishing this season the right way, with a team I believe in.”
Alford, 61, is entering his eighth season with the Wolf Pack. He owns a 137-88 record at Nevada, including NCAA Tournament appearances in 2023 and 2024, and is 724-386 overall.
His coaching career has included stops at Manchester College, Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico and UCLA. He took Manchester to the 1995 Division III championship game, Missouri State to the Sweet 16 and won four Mountain West regular-season titles at New Mexico.
But long before Alford became a coach, he was an Indiana basketball legend.
A former Indiana Mr. Basketball from New Castle, Alford played for Bob Knight on the gold-medal-winning 1984 U.S. Olympic team alongside Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Alvin Robertson.
Along the way, he became the face of the Hoosiers. For four seasons, Alford was Indiana basketball. He moved relentlessly without the ball, raced around screens and needed only a sliver of daylight to get off one of the quickest and purest jumpers college basketball has seen.
Alford was a two-time first-team All-American and helped lead Indiana to the 1987 national championship. He scored 23 points and made seven 3-pointers in the Hoosiers’ title-game victory over Syracuse, which ended with Keith Smart’s famous baseline jumper.
Alford completed his college career with 2,438 points, then the most in Indiana history. He played four NBA seasons before beginning his coaching career at age 26.
The UCLA years were uneven, although Alford led the Bruins to three Sweet 16 appearances. He enjoyed greater stability and success at New Mexico and Nevada, becoming one of 25 men’s Division I coaches to surpass 700 career victories.
His coaching journey will end next spring. His place in Indiana basketball history was secured nearly four decades ago.
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