UCLA fires Steve Alford as basketball coach after 6 seasons

LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - Steve Alford has been fired as UCLA basketball coach after six seasons, with the Bruins mired in a four-game skid that included losses at home to Belmont and Liberty.

Athletic director Dan Guerrero said Monday that assistant Murry Bartow will serve as interim coach through the end of the season.

UCLA is 7-6 and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament despite a talented roster that includes sophomore Kris Wilkes and freshman Moses Brown.

Alford's final game was a 73-58 loss to Liberty on Saturday, the worst home defeat in his tenure. Alford called it the most disappointing loss in his 28-year coaching career.

Guerrero says former Bruins player and current Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers will assist in the search for a new coach.

"Throughout my career as an athletic director, I have maintained a belief that making a head coaching change during a season is rarely in the best interests of our student-athletes or program," Guerrero said. "In this case, however, it is now clear to me that what is best for our current students and for the overall good of the program, is to make this change now. While Steve led us to three Sweet 16 appearances, we simply have not been performing at a consistent level and our struggles up to this point in the season do not bode well for the future. On behalf of UCLA Athletics, I want to thank Steve, Tanya and the entire Alford family for their commitment to UCLA and wish them all of the best in the future."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.