Albuquerque, NM (Best E Casino) - University of New Mexico Vice-President for Athletics Paul Krebs announced Monday that head basketball coach Steve Alford has agreed to a three-year contract extension.

Alford, who is now under contract with the Lobos until the 2015-16 season, led New Mexico to a 24-9 overall record and a third-place finish in the Mountain West Conference last season. The 24 regular season wins tied a school record. Without Alford in the previous campaign, the same nucleus finished with a 15-17 overall mark.

New Mexico earned a bid to the National Invitational Tournament in 2008, where it lost at California, 68-66 in the first round.

Alford has spent 17 seasons as a head coach, eight of which were spent at the University of Iowa, where he led the Hawkeyes to a school-record seven consecutive winning seasons and a 152-106 overall record.

As a collegiate star, Alford was the team captain and starting point guard on Bob Knight's 1987 national championship team at Indiana. He concluded his career as Indiana's all-time scoring leader with 2,438 points.