Nevada's Steve Alford to retire after 2026-27 season, concluding prolific 36 year coaching career

Alford, who has won over 700 games at the college level, will retire after this season

Sep 24, 2026 at 5:38 pm ET • 2 min read

Nevada coach Steve Alford will retire after the 2026-27 season, the school announced in a release on Thursday. Alford's head coaching career spans 36 seasons, which includes stops at Manchester, Southwest Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and Nevada.

Alford has been at Nevada since 2019 and has guided the program to two NCAA Tournament berths and an NIT appearance this past season. Nevada is coming off a 24-win campaign, which was the second-most wins in a single year during his tenure.

"After 36 years, I feel like this is the right time to step away from the bench," Alford said in a release. "Tanya and I have loved our time in Reno, and have embraced this amazing community and built lifelong friendships. I want to thank the University of Nevada for the opportunity to lead this program, and I am looking forward to finishing this season the right way, with a team I believe in. God has richly blessed our family in so many ways through basketball and we are very grateful. I'm excited to see God's direction in the next chapter."

Entering this season, Alford has racked up 724 career wins as a head coach (724-383), which ranks No. 10 among all active Division I coaches and is one of two coaches in NCAA history — with current St John's c coach Rick Pitino being the other — to guide six different programs to the NCAA Tournament.

"Steve Alford has been an important part of Nevada Athletics and Wolf Pack Basketball for nearly a decade, leading the program with consistency, integrity, and a deep commitment to developing outstanding young men," Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe said. "Throughout his tenure, he helped Nevada remain one of the Mountain West Conference's most competitive programs while navigating a period of significant change in college athletics."

A two-time consensus All-American at Indiana University under legendary head coach Bob Knight, Alford was the 1983 Indiana Mr. Basketball, a three-time All-Big Ten first-team selection and the 1987 Big Ten MVP. He led the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA Championship and finished his career as Indiana's all-time leading scorer with 2,438 points. 

Alford was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997 and named to Indiana's All-Century Team in 2001, before being inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. In 1984, he won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the United States men's basketball team under Knight, the last U.S. men's team to win Olympic gold as amateurs. Alford was selected 26th overall in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks and played four NBA seasons with Dallas and Golden State.