Utah cornerbacks coach Aaron Alford will be a busy man when the Utes visit Louisville. Besides having to contend with the Cardinals' high-powered offense and highly touted quarterback Brian Brohm, Alford is going to squeeze in a family reunion.
Alford's mother, Gloria, said 32 family members and friends from Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida and Ohio will attend Friday's game to watch the first head-to-head coaching matchup between Aaron Alford and brother Tony, who is Louisville's running backs coach.
The group will wear matching T-shirts adorned with: "Alford Clan: Louisville vs. Utah."
On the flight to Kentucky from their home in Colorado Springs, parents Gloria and Robert Alford pondered how they were going to support both teams.
The solution? Spend one half on each side of the stadium.
"So we won't get killed by the fans when we're in Louisville rooting for Utah," Gloria said. "At one point my husband wanted to sew each hat together and switch it around, but we decided not to do that."
The highlight of the trip, she added, will be the mini-family reunion.
"We're all going to be at the game together," said Gloria, who noted that the group will meet with Aaron after the game.
Tony and Aaron, who have an older brother, Robert Jr., who was a tennis player at Kent State, are the couple's youngest sons. Gloria said it's a thrill to have them working in the same game.
"Their passion for football has been there since Pee Wee football," she said. "It's an honor to see that they have reached goals for their passion in a career and they're having fun doing it. As a mom, what more could I ask? They're happy."
Though he won't be able to spend a lot of time with family and friends, Aaron Alford is looking forward to the gathering.
"It's going to be a great time," he said.
The brothers, Aaron added, speak regularly but haven't exchanged barbs about the game. They've swapped compliments instead after watching film of each other's teams.
"It's been funny," Aaron said before noting the two don't engage in much trash-talking. "We don't really do that anymore. We fought enough from age 6 through 12, so no more fighting."
Tony's wife Trina, however, unloaded a little friendly fire when Aaron called recently.
"I tried to call my sister-in-law and say hi and she started talking smack and stuff," Aaron said. "But my brother and I? No."
Tony Alford played his collegiate football at Colorado State and rushed for a Western Athletic Conference-record 310 yards against Utah in 1989. His coaching experience includes stints at Mount Union (1995), Kent State (1996), Iowa State (1997-2000 and 2002-06) and Washington (2001) before joining Steve Kragthorpe's staff at Louisville this season.
Aaron Alford also played and graduated from CSU. His coaching career has included stops at Kent State (1998), Southern Utah (1999-2000), Western Illinois (2001), Wyoming (2002) and Akron (2004-06).
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com