A Long Way Down.

Remember when everyone and their mother could swear that Indiana was going to hire Steve Alford away from Iowa when Mike Davis got out of Bloomington, that it was going to happen for sure? Well, it didn't, and Alford has dealt with another subpar season in Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes didn't even make the NIT.

If ESPN's reports are even half-accurate, he's probably out the door and headed to the Lobos of New Mexico.

Sources said Alford was looking for a school that is passionate about basketball first and foremost after being at a football-first school. UNM athletic director Paul Krebs has pledged to make the Lobos a national program, bumping up the coach's salary more than $500,000 in an attempt to get it closer to Alford's nearly $1 million deal with Iowa.

Nice thought, but before you shell out for a coach like that, you'd better know what you're getting -- Alford has a problem with getting past the second round of the NCAAs regularly, and Iowa lost tourney games they should have rightfully had. The Pierre Pierce issues may have drained it out of him, but it's odd to see him go from shooting star to crawling out of Iowa City.