Editorial: Take time to make sure new coach is best choice

Enough time has passed since Saturday’s surprise announcement for everyone to take a deep breath, count to 10 and relax a bit.

Yes, that announcement. University of New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball coach Steve Alford is leaving to take the head job at UCLA.

Hadn’t he just agreed to a 10-year contract here that would pay him a potential $1.3 million a year, depending on how well he and his team performed on the court and in the classroom? And didn’t the new terms include stiff penalties if he left early? Yes and yes. But nothing was in effect yet, so when a big-time name came calling with big-time money — $2.6 million a year over seven years — he couldn’t resist.

Who can blame him? With the record he leaves behind, Lobos fans should wish him well.

But still, for many, it hurts.

Local sports fans had already started putting behind the Lobos’ disappointing NCAA Tournament loss to Harvard, with Chicago Cub style optimism that next year would be different. All the starters on this year’s high-ranking team of conference champions would be back; and they would be led by the same coaching staff that had rebuilt the program after two disastrous coaching choices in a row seriously wounded its reputation and fan base.

Now, UNM has some hard choices, on who should be the new coach and how much it can afford to pay.

Though pressure is mounting, it is not the time for a rash decision. UNM should instead conduct a national search that also considers the local favorite.

We’ve seen what a good coach can do, and also have lived through some bad choices. Lobo nation will have to live with this choice. There is no reason to rush it.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.