He learned to count as a three-year-old by watching the numbers tick off the scoreboard in Monroe City, where his father, Sam Alford, coached the high school team.

Steve missed only two of his father's games, once when he contracted chicken pox, and once when he made the regionals of the Elks Club free-throw shooting contest.

Steve Alford was known to practice shooting so much that he would wear out six or seven basketball nets each summer and would frequently forgo social activities.

[2] By his senior year in 1983, before the three-point line was even implemented, Alford averaged 37.2 points per game and earned the Indiana "Mr. Basketball" award.

"[2] That year Alford helped lead Indiana to an upset of the Michael Jordan-led North Carolina Tar Heels in the 1984 NCAA tournament.

Alford has recounted that during the Olympic training camp, teammate Michael Jordan bet him $100 that he would not last four years on Knight's Indiana team.

Author John Feinstein was granted unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program and insights into Knight's coaching style.

The book recounts how Knight once criticized Alford's work habits and leadership ability, telling him he couldn't "lead a whore into bed.

In his senior year, the Alford-led 1986–87 Hoosiers won Indiana's fifth national championship, when the team defeated Syracuse in title game of the tournament.

[8] His form at the foul line is so routine that it inspired a famous mantra from Indiana fans: "Socks, shorts, 1–2–3 swish".

Before releasing a free throw, Alford told himself, "Soft over the front edge of the rim," and some people believed they could see his lips move.

In 1994 and 1995 Manchester won conference titles, and in Alford's final three seasons the team competed in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The loss to Bo Ryan's University of Wisconsin-Platteville team marked the only title game in NCAA history matching two undefeated squads.

Although his first game as coach was a 70–68 victory against the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies at Madison Square Garden, his team went 14–16 during his first season at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes' conference record dropped to 5–11 during the 2001–02 season, but they defeated Purdue, Wisconsin, and Indiana in the Big Ten tournament before losing to Ohio State in the finals.

[12] During the 2005–06 season, the Hawkeyes went undefeated at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and finished in a second-place tie with Illinois with an 11–5 conference record, one game behind Ohio State.

It marked the first time since the 1976–1977 season that an Iowa team with a winning record has failed to make either the NCAA tournament or the NIT.

In his second season, led by seniors Daniel Faris, Tony Danridge and Chad Toppert, Alford guided the Lobos to their first conference championship in 15 years.

Alford and his New Mexico squad fell just short of the NCAA tourney and ended up with their second consecutive NIT bid.

They won a first round home game against Nebraska and lost on a last second buzzer beater on the road to Notre Dame.

The team seemed poised to make a run in the MWC conference tournament, but a tragic ACL injury to Gary in the semi-finals against BYU proved to be too much to overcome for this young UNM squad.

With Drew Gordon and Demetrius Walker leading a battle tested UNM team in the championship, Alford and his Lobos prevailed to a 69–58 conference tournament title.

3 seed Lobos were upset by an underdog 14th-seeded Harvard team,[9] who won their first NCAA tournament game in school history.

On March 30, 2013, Alford signed a seven-year, $18.2-million contract to become the head coach of the UCLA Bruins,[9] joining a program that has won a record 11 national titles.

[14] He replaced the fired Ben Howland, who was coming off a blowout loss in the first round of the 2013 NCAA tournament after UCLA had captured the Pac-12 Conference regular season title with a new up-tempo offense.

[19] In his first season, fans accused Alford of nepotism for playing his son Bryce over fellow freshman Zach LaVine.

[14][20][21] The Bruins had rarely sought players who were not four- or five-star recruits,[20] while Bryce was rated a consensus three-star prospect.

[25] After Anderson and LaVine left UCLA for the National Basketball Association (NBA), Bryce became the Bruins' starting point guard in 2014–15.

[44] One week during the offseason, a plane flew over the UCLA campus on two occasions with a banner urging the school to fire Alford.

[47] The Bruins finished one game out of first place in the Pac-12,[47] and UCLA advanced to its third Sweet 16 in four years as freshmen Lonzo Ball and T. J.