UPDATE 12/31 8:30 A.M.:

Steve Alford has been informed he's been let go as UCLA's basketball coach.

Sunday, 12/30, 10:30 P.M.

UCLA has essentially fired basketball coach Steve Alford, according to various sources.

UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero has yet to have the formal conversation with Alford, but an agreement on Alford's buyout was reached Sunday night.

Alford, 54, in his sixth season at UCLA, had started off 7-6, with four straight losses, including recent home defeats at the hands of Belmont and Liberty.

Alford was on the hot seat coming into the season. According to sources, however, the UCLA administration intended to retain Alford for the entire 2018-2019 season.

That is, until the four-game losing streak and Alford seemingly losing control of his team.

After the Liberty loss Saturday, influential donors put pressure on UCLA's administration to make a change, according to sources. Due to the buyout terms of his contract, Alford was due $2.6 million if he were fired before May 1st of 2019. The buyout was then negotiated most of Sunday and an agreement reached Sunday evening. The terms of the negotiated buyout were unknown.

In five full seasons at UCLA, Alford never advanced past the Sweet 16, never won the regular season conference championship, and had the lowest winning percentage through five seasons of any UCLA coach not named Walt Hazzard. Aside from one season with Lonzo Ball, his teams never spent a single week ranked in the top 10.

It's uncertain who will be the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Sources are indicating that the coaching search has begun, and that UCLA will do its due diligence in finding its next head basketball coach.

The formal conversation between Guerrero and Alford, and the announcement from UCLA about Alford's firing should come Monday.