INDIANAPOLIS — As Steve Alford walked among the masses in the state where he used to walk on water, the people came to walk along beside him. His Indiana luster, after all these years, still hasn’t worn off.
Some stopped and stood from afar, gathering their courage, before asking Alford for an autograph or a selfie. Every one of them had a story to tell about the time they saw him play, as if Alford wouldn’t remember what he did in that game.
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Alford nods, and he smiles as if it’s the first time he’s ever heard someone talk about that game quite that way. He’s done this so many times.
Back in Indy for the Final Four this weekend, not as coach of his Nevada team, which lost in the quarterfinals of the NIT, Alford was here for other reasons. Reasons which, in his estimation, in the entire scheme of life, were a whole lot more important than playing basketball.
He put them in this order: Faith. Family. Coaching. And, though he doesn’t mention it, a prestigious John Wooden award.
Alford has been a bit nervous about that last one, says his wife Tanya, who met her husband pre-basketball star in the fifth grade in New Castle, Ind., became his high school sweetheart and built a marriage that’s lasted 38 years and has given them two sons, a daughter and three grandsons, with a granddaughter on the way.
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He gets emotional at stuff like that. The Coach Wooden “Keys to Life” award is presented each year at the Final Four to a “player or coach who best exemplifies character, leadership and integrity in the home, on the court and throughout the community,” says Athletes in Action, which gives the award.
Before Alford sat under the spotlight on the stage of the 500 Ballroom in the Indiana Convention Center Saturday morning to receive the award, he spent Friday afternoon coaching a clinic for the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Then he was at Butler University for an Athletes in Action private sponsor event.
And everywhere he went, the people were there beside him.
The masses in Indy this weekend, those more than 70,000 fans, knew their basketball. They talked to Alford about his senior year at New Castle High in the semi-state finals against Broad Ripple when he scored 57 points and went 25 for 25 from the free throw line.
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And of course, they talked about him leading Indiana University to its last national title in 1987 and his “almost unbelievable crazy good college stats,” as one fan called them
At IU, Alford shot 89.7% from the free throw line and 53.3% from the field. His 3-point performance wasn’t tracked until his senior season, the first year the NCAA enacted the score, but in 202 attempts, he made 107. That’s 53%. Today’s Division I basketball 3-point average is 35%.
“That would get me a few mil today,” Alford, 61, jokes under his breath, referring to NIL, which didn’t exist in his days. “Before, it was donated to some library fund.”
A fan asks for a selfie with Steve Alford at the Coach Wooden Keys to Life Breakfast at the Indiana Convention Center during the Final four weekend in Indianapolis Saturday, April 4, 2026.
Known as a sharpshooting, boy-next-door heartthrob of the NCAA in the 1980s, it can only be assumed that Alford would have gotten a pretty penny from NIL.
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He did once get suspended for a game for posing in a fundraising calendar for a sorority, even though he didn’t make any money off of it. When Alford showed up to the airport with the team, thinking he could at least travel to the game, IU coach Bob Knight gave him a few choice words and left him stranded on the tarmac as the team plane flew off.
The basketball stories and the memories that link Alford to Indiana are prolifically recorded and number in the hundreds, if not thousands.
“Steve Alford is our home child,” said New Castle Mayor Greg York, who has known Alford since he moved to town in fifth grade. “Everybody knows Steve like he’s their own child.”
As Alford walked through the convention center, Kyle Colsen walked behind him with his 7-year-old son, Charlie, and then noticed who was in front of them.
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“That guy right there,” Colsen whispered to his son, “that’s Mr. Indiana.”
‘He’s just Steve to me’
The fanfare surrounding her husband has always felt a bit surreal to Tanya. It’s tough to think about that scrawny boy who lived across the street — who played dodgeball, Kick the Can and Red Rover with her on the playground of Riley Elementary School in New Castle — as being some legend.
Yet, she knows, he is.
Those people came up to Tanya this weekend, too, to tell her stories about the games they watched her husband play and the remarkable feats he accomplished. Tanya nodded and smiled, and she acted like it was the first time she’d ever heard that story told quite that way.
Steve and Tanya Alford have known each other since fifth grade and were high school sweethearts.
“He’s just Steve to me,” Tanya says. “We grew up together. Our families were very close friends. My parents were very close with his parents.”
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But Tanya and Alford’s love didn’t blossom until their junior years of high school, when they made plans to go to the New Castle prom. Alford was invited to play in the Dapper Dan Invitational that weekend. They ended up at a basketball game instead.
By their senior year, with a missed junior prom and all, Alford and Tanya were in love. They both went to IU for college, then Tanya transferred to the University of Evansville her last two years to get a physical therapy degree.
They married right after graduation, and Alford was drafted 26th overall by the Dallas Mavericks.
“And so the journey began,” Tanya says. “It’s been such a journey and such a, gosh, such a blessing. Just all the places we’ve been and all the people we’ve met. Sometimes, I just stop and think, ‘Wow, we are truly blessed.'”
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Shooting into a Pringles can
When the city heard Alford would be in Indy for the Final Four, his calendar started filling up. On Friday, he was mic’d up on a makeshift court inside the Indiana Convention Center giving nearly 200 fellow college basketball coaches the wisdom he’s gained from more than three decades in the field and more than 700 wins under his belt.
Every year, the NABC reaches out to coaches from all levels of basketball to conduct clinics at its annual convention, which this year coincided with the Final Four in Indy.
“Given Coach Alford’s respect amongst his coaching colleagues and his ties to Indiana, we felt he would be a natural fit,” Eric Wieberg, NABC director of communications and digital media, said in an e-mail to IndyStar. “Coach Alford gladly accepted our invitation to conduct a clinic and give his time to educate fellow coaches.”
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First, Alford urged his coaching peers to stop accepting mediocre 3-point shooting.
“I really don’t get it, how 35% is good three point shooting. I don’t get that. I don’t think I’ll ever get that,” Alford said. “You should be above 50%, not 35%.”
Give the passers a rest and let players rebound their own balls in drills, Alford said. It’s built-in conditioning.
“And I’m a big, big believer in the mechanics of the shot. You build confidence by doing it the right way,” Alford said. “Because by doing it the right way, you’re going to see the ball go in.”
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Alford’s shooting touch started early, when he was 6 years old or so, and he found a Pringles can, emptied it out and started perfecting making a ping pong ball fall into his target. At first, Alford “cheated,” putting the can up against the window so he could bank the shot. Once he mastered that, he put the can in the middle of the room.
“And it was a lot more difficult,” Alford said. “And that’s, in my opinion, that was the foundation of me developing the touch.”
Alford believes every player should have to earn the right to shoot 3-pointers in a game. That’s why his Nevada team has to earn a “shooting license” to take triples.
The test to get the license can come at anytime, on Alford’s whim, whenever he wants to make sure a player should be shooting threes. The license requirement is making 35 out of 50 shots from different spots on the arc.
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“If you don’t make 35 out of 50,” Alford says, “we don’t want to hear you telling us that you want to be shooting threes in the next game.”
Steve Alford, right, teaches shooting techniques as he works with Bruno Issaqui, from the Oakland City University basketball team, during a clinic put on by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Friday, April 3, 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center.
After the clinic was over, Alford stood once again signing autographs and talking to people who wanted to hear more from him. His son, Kory, stood beside him.
Being back in Indiana with his dad for the weekend has been incredible, said Kory, an associate head coach at Oral Roberts University.
Especially because of that award, the John Wooden award, the one Alford tries to be humble about, but the award everyone in his circle knows means more to him than he’s letting on.
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Tears and a lot of laughter
Alford sat under the spotlight inside the Indiana Convention Center with a handkerchief in his hands. He had been worried he would need it, but was hoping he would not.
The video came across the screen. His family had recorded secret messages, telling him in different ways how proud they were of him, what an inspiration he is to them, how they admire the way he never waivers from his faith and his beliefs.
Alford put his head down and wiped his eyes. He had been nervous that something like this would happen. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be something emotional,” he said as the tribute ended.
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“He gets very choked up when he talks about his parents or his upbringing or our kids and grandkids,” Tanya said. “That is his soft spot.”
Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden (left) with then-Iowa coach Steve Alford and his son Bryce at the Wooden Classic.
Then came the video with CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg on set with Nate Burleson, Bruce Pearl, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, taking a moment to congratulate Alford.
After the others had given Alford his accolades, the screen zoomed in on Barkley.
“Let me look at that camera right there,” Barkley said, pointing his finger. “You know damn well I should have made that (1984 Olympics team), let me tell you. You were such a good dude. We had so many fun nights together.”
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As Alford remembers those nights, the word “fun” doesn’t necessarily come to mind, he said, laughing. Barkley was Alford’s Olympic trials roommate in 1984. Alford had just finished his freshman year at IU, was 19 years old, 6-1 and barely 155 pounds.
“And him and Chuck Persons, and if you know Chuck (Persons), Chuck’s bigger than Chuck (Barkley) and Chuck’s 6-8,” Alford said. “And they would have a wrestling match every day in Chuck and I’s room. And I was pinned up against the wall.”
Alford’s family would call to ask how the trials were going. “I’m like, ‘I’m just trying to survive, because the wrestling that’s going on in this room is unbelievable.'”
Alford made the 1984 Olympic team and won a gold medal. Barkley didn’t. But, Alford is quick to point out, Barkley won gold in 1992 and 1996. He and Barkley are close.
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“You’ve been a friend for a long time. You are such a good man. You’ve had a hell of a career,” Barkley said in the video. “Congratulations, man. Well deserved.”
As the awards banquet ended, Alford talked about the Christian faith that has guided him throughout his life and his career.
“I grew up in a spiritual home and was taught the right way,” he said. “You always did the right thing, but you learn about staying close to God, getting closer to God.”
Then Alford told a story about why he decided to play basketball at IU.
“Well, all you’ve got to do is read John 20:21 and it says, ‘So as the Father sent me, so send I you.’ It’s the only university (mentioned in the Bible),” Alford said. “So that’s where I knew I was meant to be.”
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With that, the crowd of hundreds erupted in the 500 Ballroom as Alford sat in the spotlight. And, once again, Alford felt right at home.
The 2026 Final Four championship game is set for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Monday, April 6 and will be shown on TBS.
Here’s what you need to know about the weekend, the 2026 March Madness bracket, odds, picks and predictions.
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Steve Alford back in Indy for Final Four. His luster hasn’t worn off
