In Reply to: Re: New coach in 2026? posted by Cachorro on September 19, 2024 at 09:27:14
IMO UCLA hasn't truly thrived since John Wooden. Since JRW it's been one struggle or problem or issue after another with some good years thrown in but hardly any sustained success. An argument can be made for those four years of Howland's first six at UCLA, but that couldn't be sustained for a myriad of reasons and the struggles continued. IMO Howland was fired not because of style but because he had run the course and no longer had the favor or the powers that be. The basketball business is fickle and sometimes the wrong people get a burr up their butts and someone's head rolls. Like you, I thought Howland deserved a few more years to see if what appeared to be he starting to right his ship was actually the case. It didn't work out that way and so it goes.
As far as Cronin's courtside demeanor; I think it's more embarrassing than problematic. Ask any athlete and they'll tell you that every coach gets mad and yells. Cronin, IMO, isn't any different than any other coach in that respect. What's embarrassing for me is that he doesn't seem to have the ability to quickly move on and get constructive and positive. He steams and stews, and that doesn't do anybody any good - including the situation. Still, other than the embarrassment for me it doesn't bother me that he gets short with his players. I don't think he throws his players under the bus. I think that's his way of challenging his guys to step up and take responsibility. I may do something like that differently, but that doesn't mean I think he's wrong. A good responsible coach has to be able to get as much out of his guys as possible and sometimes that means kicking some butt. To me, the salient aspect of all this is that it appears that Cronin's players seem to like and respect him. That should tell us a lot concerning this matter.
Thriving to me is not a short burst of success or a one shot deal, but a long sustained level of success even with some hills and valleys. That certainly hasn't been UCLA since the 1970's IMO. That being said, I think Cronin has done a masterful job thus far in properly building a program that has a chance at that sustained level of success for the future. Last year, IMO, was an anomaly (we'll see if that's so). To my eye he is bringing in the right kind of players, building a system with those players based on fundamentals and defense, and has all his teams competing for the most part at a level where they are in position to win in almost every game. That's not easy to do, and yet he's accomplished that from the beginning - even last season where many of the losses the team was still right in there. They just didn't have the experience to win those games. His past UCLA teams have won their share of those tight games. Just seeing how his UCLA teams play and compete tells me he's a good coach.