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Alford discusses simplicity, focus in GCC talk
It may have been Steve Alford's basketball credentials that got the crowd to Greencastle Christian Church Wednesday night, but the talk went well beyond the court.
Often using the game as a metaphor for life, the former Indiana Hoosier player and current UCLA coach touched on a number of subjects including faith, fatherhood, accountability and dedication.
A couple of themes running throughout his nearly one-hour talk to the men of GCC and the community were the need for focus and proper priorities in everyday life.
"You can't have 50 priorities. You've gotta reduce that target," Alford said. "A true friend is going to keep you accountable to that."
Even with a large contract to coach one of the marquee programs in the country, Alford was direct about where his priorities lie.
"My faith and my family supersede coaching," Alford said.
Introduced by GCC elder Ted Willer, who invoked the name of Bob Knight a couple of times, Alford said he was glad to be in "a beautiful church" when Knight's name was brought up because "you never know where it's going when Coach Knight is mentioned."
After more than a year in Los Angeles, Alford, whose previous coaching stops include Manchester, Missouri State, Iowa and New Mexico, said he was glad to be back in Indiana, experiencing its weather.
"It's been good seeing rain. I haven't seen much ran being in L.A. the last 15 months," Alford said. "I don't mind the thunderstorms. The humidity I don't miss a beat -- or the bugs."
Reflecting on his basketball life, Alford said he knows he had some wonderful opportunities to be connected to the greats of the sport.
He was fortunate, he said, "to be able to grow up in this state dreaming about, one, playing for your father and, two, playing for Coach Knight, and then to be able to do both."
Alford also had a connection to his current job as a boy when father Sam spent several years coaching at John Wooden's alma mater, Martinsville.
"I got to grow up practicing in the same gym Coach Wooden played high school basketball in," Alford said. "To see all that come full circle, I count my blessings."
It was the blessings that Alford focused on much more than basketball on Wednesday, challenging the men to remember the larger point of life.
"Regardless of where you're from and regardless of what gym you played in, the one constant we have is we all serve the same God," Alford said.
The only way to succeed, he said, is to "prepare every day for a championship lifestyle."
He recalled preparations from his basketball career, one in which he averaged one point per game as a freshman at New Castle High School.
Following that season, he approached his dad (who also happened to be his head coach) about how to improve himself going forward. Together, Sam and Steve developed a personal workout that Steve devoted a minimum of one hour to each day, in addition to any other duties he had.
"The key to that workout is I did it every day," Alford said. He added that every day meant every day, not four or five days a week, but seven days a week, regardless of the season.
The commitment worked, as he went from averaging one point, to 18 points, to 27 points, to 37 points and the Mr. Basketball award as a senior.
"I went from my first two years being booed every time I went in," Alford said, "to my last two years when Dad got booed every time he took me out."
The improvement continued at Indiana, where Alford was a two-time All-American and led the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA championship.
"My career ascended because I did my workout every day, a good, solid, committed hour of getting better," Alford said.
No pursuits in life are any different, he continued. It takes daily commitment and preparation to achieve a championship lifestyle.
And while worldly pursuits are nice, he said the most important preparation involves putting one's faith first.
"It's gotta be your Lord and Savior that you serve every day," Alford said. "If you but (the Bible) to use daily, then you can see things happen in your life."