CORRECTS MONTH - Steve Alford, UCLA's new men's basketball coach, gestures during a news conference at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Alford was hired on Saturday, spurning New Mexico days after he agreed to a new 10-year deal with the Lobos for a chance to run what he called "the premier basketball program in the country." (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (The Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES – Steve Alford calls his new job as UCLA basketball coach "a challenge."
Alford walked into Pauley Pavilion for the first time since the 1984 Summer Olympics and took his place under the 11 national championship banners Monday.
He says that he doesn't think he'll change who he's been for the first 22 years of his coaching career now that he's in charge of the storied program that fellow Hoosier John Wooden built.
He calls his new job "a great, humbling, honorable position." He hopes he understands the challenge of coaching a program that owns a record 11 national championships and whose fans have high expectations for more.
Alford's introduction on the floor of Nell and John Wooden Court was greeted by applause from a small audience. It wasn't open to the public.
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