Neal takes position as interim head coach

sports@dailylobo.com
@ThomasRomeroS

The New Mexico basketball team’s interim head coach may be a familiar sight to Lobo fans.

UNM athletics director Paul Krebs officially announced on Saturday that associate head coach Craig Neal will be the interim head coach now that Steve Alford has departed for UCLA’s head coaching job.

Alford, who accepted a seven-year deal worth a reported $18.2 million with the Bruins, said he fully endorses his longtime friend as the next head coach of Lobo basketball.

“Coach Neal is ready,” Alford said at his going-away press conference Saturday afternoon. “Coach Neal has been my associate head coach now for nine years — three years at Iowa and six years here. If you look at our track record for those nine years, we’ve averaged 26 wins per year. We’ve been to the postseason every year except our last year at Iowa.”

Alford said Neal is one of the best offensive coaches in the country.

“He’s got an incredible basketball mind: Of all the people I’ve worked with or been around, nobody knows the game of basketball more than he does,” Alford said. “He knows the team. He knows the culture of UNM, he knows what it’s like to walk down that ramp and he knows how to organize a basketball team in a lot of different ways.”

Neal started his coaching career as an assistant coach with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors in 2000. In 2004, he left Toronto to become associate head coach at Iowa when Alford became head coach of the Hawkeyes. Neal followed Alford to UNM in 2007 and has been associate head coach of the Lobos since.

Krebs said he “challenged” Neal to provide stability within the program, including with current players and recruits. Krebs also said it’s important to listen to the student athletes and those most directly involved with the program to help decide who should become the next head coach.

“Coach Alford has made it clear he has the highest respect for Craig. If you’ve been around the program for the last six years, it’s not hard to understand that coach Neal has had a strong impact on the program,” Krebs said. “I think Craig’s an outstanding coach, and we have named him interim head coach. He’s in charge of the program. Craig is a candidate for the head-coaching job but beyond acknowledging that I won’t really talk about any candidates regarding the search itself.”

Sophomore center Alex Kirk told Krebs that if Neal isn’t chosen as the next UNM head coach, Kirk would transfer to another school, according to a CBS report. Junior Cameron Bairstow said the team is in full support of Neal as the Lobos’ new head coach.

“(Neal) calmed us and said ‘Hey, take a breath. Just think about what’s going on,’” Kirk said. “That’s all we can really do right now, just focus on getting our grades back. We just have to stay calm and he said everything’s going to be OK. I trust him a lot.”