Trust me, here, folks. In the hours before I put my butt down in front of my word processor Saturday, I worked that same butt off trying to summon a gigantic mad-on for Steve Alford.

For posterity, it might have been nice to write a scathing column that would be read far and wide as the door that hit Steve in his butt on the way out.

You know what? I couldn’t do it. On a Lobo IndigNation scale of 1 to 10, all I can register is a 2.5.

He’s gone.

We move on.

Saturday, in a story that made national headlines and generated pro-and-con chatter throughout cyberspace, Alford — the New Mexico Lobos’ men’s basketball coach the past six years — announced he had accepted the same position at UCLA.

This shocking development came 10 days after UNM announced Alford had agreed to a new contract that would keep him in Albuquerque through the 2022-23 season. Clearly, with jobs opening up around the college basketball world, athletic director Paul Krebs was hoping the long-term deal would fend off potential suitors.

Alford, as he did often during his tenure at UNM, talked as if leaving was not an option.

“There is no other place I would rather coach than at UNM, representing the best fans in the country,” he was quoted as saying in the news release that announced the new contract.

Well, it turns out there was at least one other place he’d rather coach, one other fan base he’d prefer to represent.

“It’s the pinnacle of college basketball,” he said reverently of UCLA, the program that John Wooden built. “It’s one of those lifetime opportunities that’s really difficult to pass up.”

Indignation rising? Hey, we could play the gotcha game all day and all night, dredging up Alford quotes from the past and throwing them in his face. It wouldn’t change anything.

From a personal standpoint, I could be livid that Alford’s new contract prompted me to write the following in the March 21 Journal: “With each passing season … it becomes more evident that Alford is determined to build something special in the high desert. Just as clearly, he’s relishing the prospect of coaching both his sons, freshman Kory and incoming freshman Bryce, as Lobos.”

Now, Alford’s picturing his sons — sharpshooting Bryce in particular — wearing UCLA powder blue.

Bear in mind that, in his mind, Alford already has built something special here. I thought so, too, and had plenty of company, until a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to 14th-seeded Harvard shined a harsh light on his lack of career success in the Big Dance.

Take note, Steve: Lukewarm recent success in the NCAA Tournament is a major reason the UCLA job was open in the first place.

Harvard or no Harvard, it’s clear the next UNM coach will step into a far, far better situation than Alford inherited six years ago.

And if you’re upset, how do you think Krebs feels? Until Saturday morning, he thought he had Alford sewed up for a decade to come.

Krebs obviously was not happy with this turn of events. Yet, there was no blood on his lip when he ticked off Alford’s contributions to a program that he hopes will keep on ticking.

“We had a leader that moved this program forward in so many ways,” Krebs said.

So, who’s that new leader?

Krebs could go for continuity — and stave off potential player defections from the current roster — by giving the job to Craig Neal, Alford’s top assistant. Neal already has strong endorsements from current and former players.

But the AD would be foolish not to see if there’s an experienced head coach out there who’d be a good fit.

In 2007, I didn’t see Alford as a good fit. I later admitted I was wrong, and I’m not going to turn around and say I was right because he bailed for the West Coast.

Is there more to the story than Alford and Krebs revealed Saturday? Of course, but what?

Was Alford feeling unloved and unappreciated in light of the Harvard reaction? Yes, definitely. But is that why he left? No, probably not.

Was it the money? Alford’s UCLA contract is for seven years at $2.6 million per year, far more than he would have made from his new deal at UNM.

The cost of living in L.A. though, will gobble up that surplus like a shark lurking off the California coast.

Thus, I can find no reason not to believe the situation is essentially as Alford says it is.

It’s UCLA.

And we’re not.
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal