Cronin to UCLA...
- Thread starter Mr Magoo
- Start date
I went to a home game at the renovated Pauley Pavilion this year, and my first thought was that I can’t imagine being an elite recruit and wanting to go anywhere else, at least as long as you know you’re going to be coached to be the best player you can be.
My point is that the level of talent they get makes the style of play more palatable to fans.
4 mil in LA goes about as far as 2 mil in Cincinnati with taxes and cost of living.
Right but Cincinnati is still Cincinnati. I think I would take 4 mil to live in SoCal year round rather than 2 to live in SoOh.
Correct and the other poster is correct on their campus and their facility.
I doubt Mick Cronin needs money at this point in his life but it was more like he's been at Cincy 13 years and needed a change.
Not shocked if they go after the HC at Murray State.
Last time they did that they got Cronin.
I would say Cronin might have seen it becoming harder to recruit the type of talent he was able to in the past and decided to go to a place that has far more upside. His Cincinnati teams still were winning, but being in the AAC was a drawback when going after top talent. He probably felt he accomplished all he could there and the chances of his Bearcats staying a top program were becoming slimmer because of the conference affiliation they have
UCLA is in a major conference that isn't very strong now. Making his jumping to UCLA , now, a good move professionally.
If it isn’t competing for national championships st some point, not enough.
Cronin has never been a top tier recruiter. He recruits for a certain style of player. Hard nosed, defense minded, coachable, etc. His classes were mostly 3 and 4 star guys with a one off 5 star every so many years. He always fielded teams full of athletes that could play D but generally lacked shooters. His biggest criticism was that he failed to win the big games. Won a lot of conference games, beat the fringe top 25 teams but generally under-performed in the NCAA tournament. But his streak of 9 consecutive tournament appearances was certainly impressive.
While relegated to the AAC, Cincinnati is a place where you can win. Brand new renovated arena, good fanbase, top 15 winningest programs of all time, etc.
I think Cronin is a great hire for UCLA. Yes, he's probably their 10th choice, but the man can flat out coach and he was the one that turned the Cincy program around. He is like a Ben Howland, who teaches tough defense (Chris Beard anyone?) and I think in a league like the PAC 12 that is known for being notoriously soft, this kind of hard nosed play can really work for UCLA.
UCLA used to be a blue chip program, but has only one 1 NCAA championship in 45 years. Yes, they have been to Final Fours and the Sweet 16 numerous times in that time, but many who follow UCLA (I am one) are still living on the John Wooden era which was so long ago. I think Cronin will be able to still get top recruits in there, where he couldn't at Cincy, and turn UCLA back into a big time winner. The only negative, is that many at UCLA still think of themselves as the Wooden era blue chip powerhouse. Will Tony Guerrero (AD) give Cronin enough time to get them back to the Final Four, is the real question.
UCLA used to be a blue chip program, but has only one 1 NCAA championship in 45 years. Yes, they have been to Final Fours and the Sweet 16 numerous times in that time, but many who follow UCLA (I am one) are still living on the John Wooden era which was so long ago. I think Cronin will be able to still get top recruits in there, where he couldn't at Cincy, and turn UCLA back into a big time winner. The only negative, is that many at UCLA still think of themselves as the Wooden era blue chip powerhouse. Will Tony Guerrero (AD) give Cronin enough time to get them back to the Final Four, is the real question.
Yup and that's always the question there. Look at the guys they have shown the door in recent years. They all won to some degree, but not enough.
Yeah, but what's reasonable? If a coach there isn't in the Final Four in at least three years, the seat gets hot.
Alford took UCLA on a roller coaster ride of 22, 15, 31, 21 seasons and a 7-6 start this season that included a home losses to Belmont and Liberty + a road loss to Mick Cronin, Alford's time had run out at UCLA.
Yes he had three S16 seasons, he had three top-5 recruiting classes in a row (2016-2018), he had 7 players picked in the first round of their draft years, but he also never won the Pac-12, couldn't get past the S16, that international incident happened during his tenure which took some shine off of the UCLA brand, oh and a booster flew a plane over campus that had a "Fire Alford" attached to it. Lots of talk that Alford never embraced the UCLA community, I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm thinking that if it is not true then that plane probably would not have been pulling that banner.
Big Boy Basketball. Heck they fired Howland and Alford never came close to what Howland accomplished at UCLA.
Looking back, losses to Belmont and Liberty don;t look that bad considering they both made the NCAA's and played well.
Doesn't matter.
A blue blood should not lose, at home no less, to Belmont and Liberty. Doing so will get a head coach fired unless he has hung some National Championship banners.
That’s what I was referring to. Going back to Harrick, Lavin, and Howland. They are a little spoiled and delusional “big boy (corrupt)” hoops aside.
Agreed
Kids of today never heard of John Wooten-------or Sam Gilbert. :):)
Kids of today never heard of John Wooten-------or Sam Gilbert. :):)
I work with a big Cincinnati fan who is thrilled Cronin is gone. He was upset the Bearcats were not advancing deeply in the NCAA tournaments. We will see if he regrets that a few years from now.
There was definitely a vocal and growing minority that was ready to part ways with Cronin. Mainly due to his inability to do anything meaningful in the NCAA tournament but also his 5-8 record against Xavier. He wasn't in danger of being fired but there were more than a few UC fans who have been wanting to go in a different direction.
That doesn't seem likely. 9 straight NCAA appearances and 23 out of the last 28. Returning a likely top 25 team next season in a new (renovated) arena. I think he was more concerned that he wouldn't be able to ever take the program to the next level as opposed to falling off.
Spoiled? Definitely. Delusional? Nah.
Trust me if you want to see a delusional fan base, and get some quality online entertainment, spend some time on the N.C. State 247Sports site. I think it's called Pack Pride. I used to visit it when it was a Scout.com site. Those Wolfpack fans are a special kind of delusional. They act like their basketball program is regularly relevant and has won a national championship recently when they haven't been to an elite 8 since the Zelda II was the best selling video game in America, they blame UNC for almost all of NC State problems (this predates when the fake classes news came out).
I used to visit PackPride when I came home from work because within 5 minutes on their free board I was literally LOL sometimes so hard I was sure my neighbors were going to dial 911.
I disagree. I think Cronin taking the UCLA job was a major step up for his career. Even with UCLA down as it has been, it's a higher profile job than Cincy. So, I really don't think he was concerned about not going deep into the NCAA's or his record against Xavier or being able to take the program to the next level.
No matter how far it has fallen in recent years, UCLA should be considered a plum job for just about every College HC and returning it to elite status probably would make the HC a legend in his lifetime.
I didn't mean to insinuate that UCLA wasn't a step up. Merely trying to state that he wasn't leaving because he was concerned about the program falling off. He's a Cincinnati guy born and raised and coaching at his alma mater for 13 years. He is who he is and got about as far with the program as he could take it. I don't think anyone blames him for trying to take on a new challenge at a place like UCLA.
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