James Alford is in his first season on Josh Pastner's staff as an operations assistant in 2011-12, moving to Memphis from Baton Rouge, La.. Alford is moving not only from the Louisiana bayou to the Bluff City, but he's also making a career change from working with college football to college hoops. The former Arizona Wildcats football performer enters the Memphis program on the heels of a solid two-year run for the Tigers. The past two years, Memphis posted a combined 49-20 record, won the 2011 Conference USA Tournament title and earned consecutive postseason berths (2010 NIT, 2011 NCAA). The 49 wins in 2009-10 and 2010-11 are the most by a head coach (Josh Pastner) in his first two seasons in the program's history. Alford joins the Memphis hoops program after a two-year stint on Les Miles' football staff at LSU from 2009-11. During his time at LSU, Alford served as a graduate assistant coach for special teams (2009-10) and defense (2010-11). The Tigers posted a combined record of 20-6 and made consecutive postseason trips, playing in the 2010 Capital One Bowl and 2011 Cotton Bowl. Alford earned his master's degree in Kinesiology in August of 2011. Prior to LSU, Alford was a three-year letterwinner (2005-08) and student assistant coach (2009) at the University of Arizona. In his one year as a student assistant coach, the Louisiana native worked with the linebackers and special teams and helped guide the Wildcats to an 8-5 record and a spot in the Las Vegas Bowl. Arizona won the Las Vegas Bowl with a 31-21 win over BYU. Alford earned his bachelor's degree in Sociology in 2008. |
Memphis Tigers
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