Cronin leaves Cinci for UCLA

Cougar Basketball
41

Well, If Musselman is a great recruiter, so is Elie!!!

http://www.bethielife.com/woman-crush-gina-gaston/

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42

If Cincy gets that low on the experienced candidates the whole AAC should be worried. Nothing against Kellen but his first job if it isn’t us will probably be a couple notches below Cincy.

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43

Man, Cronin at UCLA is a horrible fit. Don’t see that ending well, although, Cronin will probably get them in the NCAA Tourney regularly.

Cincy folks want Rick Pitino. That would be interesting for a number of reasons and I doubt it happens. Possible they elevate one of the assistant that was there.

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44

Thad Matta would be a slam dunk for them if hes healthy and wants to coach.

45

It wouldn’t be a sexy hire, but they could do a lot worse than John Brannen at Northern Kentucky (just across the river from Cincinnati, and where Cincy played home games during their arena renovation).

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46

Cinci has a lot to offer. New arena, tradition, good conference.

Hmmm sounds like us.

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47

This will be a critical hire for the AAC.

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48

I’m just amazed Mark Few’s name doesn’t come up every time. The fact he gets offered twice the pay he is currently making an no one has stolen him from Gonzaga, makes you want a guy like that even more.

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49

I think he’s proud of the legacy he has there. They will have a statue up for him for sure!

50

They were grumbling about him.

51

How many HC can make the claim that they were an elite program’s 4th choice, walk away with boat load of money and live in So. Cal? It was getting embarrassing for UCLA, but they ended up with an experienced, winning HC. Good luck to the Mick.

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52

Amazing how jaded your fans get when you go to nine straight tourneys. There were whole decades where I would have hunger striked for just five years of Mick Cronin.

He’s a great coach but that money is hard to pass up. I can see him creating a powerful program there again.

That kind of money would have pulled coaches from any conference…any.

And…btw…Cincy fans are some of the most arrogant in the country. Even as family I can see why Cronin wanted a break from them.

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53

Nick has never been a head coach but has more coaching experience than Penny had.

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54

From 1992 through 2005, Cincinnati had four Sweet 16 appearances. Cronin was coach from 2006 to 2019 and had one Sweet 16 appearance. There was no decades long drought before Cronin was hired. He was the highest paid coach in the AAC until Wichita State arrived. You can’t compare Cincinnati’s situation to what we have gone through at all. Hell we had fans cheering for Penders being pushed out after he got us our first appearance in the NCAA tourney in 18 years.

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55

Mick Cronin’s head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Murray State Racers (Ohio Valley Conference) (2003–2006)
2003–04 Murray State 28–6 14–2 2nd NCAA Division I Round of 64
2004–05 Murray State 17–11 11–5 T–2nd
2005–06 Murray State 24–7 17–3 1st NCAA Division I Round of 64
Murray State: 69–24 (.742) 42–10 (.808)
Cincinnati Bearcats (Big East Conference) (2006–2013)
2006–07 Cincinnati 11–19 2–14 16th
2007–08 Cincinnati 13–19 8–10 10th CBI First Round
2008–09 Cincinnati 18–14 8–10 T–9th
2009–10 Cincinnati 19–16 7–11 T–11th NIT Second Round
2010–11 Cincinnati 26–9 11–7 T–6th NCAA Division I Round of 32
2011–12 Cincinnati 26–11 12–6 T–4th NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2012–13 Cincinnati 22–12 9–9 T–9th NCAA Division I Round of 64
Cincinnati Bearcats (American Athletic Conference) (2013–present)
2013–14 Cincinnati 27–7 15–3 T–1st NCAA Division I Round of 64
2014–15 Cincinnati 23–11* 13–5* T–3rd NCAA Division I Round of 32
2015–16 Cincinnati 22–11 12–6 T–3rd NCAA Division I Round of 64
2016–17 Cincinnati 30–6 16–2 2nd NCAA Division I Round of 32
2017–18 Cincinnati 31–5 16–2 1st NCAA Division I Round of 32
2018–19 Cincinnati 28–7 14–4 2nd NCAA Division I Round of 64
Cincinnati: 296–146 (.670) 135–87 (.608)
Total: 365–170 (.682)
56

From 2006 to 2013 Cincinnati belonged to the Big East Conference.
It was during that time that Cronin made the Sweet Sixteen.

Cincinnati was experiencing during that time something like what UH had when we were in the SWC. Being in one of the 6th best BB conferences made recruiting easier and offered annual games against Louisville, UCONN, Syracuse, St. Johns, Georgetown and all the other BE BB teams.

Note that the five years between Huggins leaving and them hiring Cronin that Cincinnati had 0 tournament appearances.

The BE BB was a major step up for them and teams like Louisville and UCONN won championships. Now they must recruit without the benifit of that great BE BB schedule. Ask UCONN how the last two seasons have been.

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57

I think the hope on UCLA’s end would be that Cronin can produce better results with the better recruits he’ll get at UCLA. In the 14 years Alford was at Iowa and New Mexico he didn’t make the Sweet 16 once. Also, tourney results can be kind of flukey. One of Alford’s Sweet 16’s came as an 11 seed with a 1 point upset in round 1 and then he lucked out and got a 14 seed in his second round game.

58

Well, if the better recruits at UCLA don’t want to play junkyard dog defense, they will be transferring pretty fast, I think.

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59

Along the lines of conference affiliation …
Huggins
Metro: 3 years, no tourney appearances
Great Midwest: 4 years, a Final Four, an Elite Eight, Round of 32 and a first round exit.
C-USA: 10 years, an Elite Eight, a Sweet Sixteen, 7 Round of 32 and a first round exit.

Cronin
Big Eight: 8 years, a Sweet Sixteen, a Round of 32 and a first round exit
AAC: 6 years, 3 Round of 32 and 3 first round exits

Even if you want to throw out Cronin’s first 3 to 4 years of gutting Huggins’ program and then rebuilding from scratch the next 10 to 11 years still falls way short. Especially if you consider the conferences Huggins was in compared to Cronin.

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60

Huggins is better than Cronin as a coach. Sampson is a lot better than some others. It is just what it is. Mick will do okay at UCLA because that league is not used to his kind of defense and if his players go with him, they will be very good.

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