In Reply to: Re: Rumor is Tony Bennett just retired posted by SehornBlew on October 18, 2024 at 06:52:02
This is a good post, SB. And your perspective is nuanced and insightful.
Here’s my thing: when I look around the college hoops landscape, I see programs going through coaching changes every year. Many of these programs are hiring their top choice, though Kentucky just failed to do this. But at places like Michigan, Texas, UConn, Arkansas, Alabama, Marquette, Syracuse, Houston, Auburn…these are just a few that come to mind over the last 5-10 years who’ve gotten their man, so to speak, without having to go through the humiliation of offering the job and being turned down. Even Arizona hired their top choice in Lloyd, reportedly.
We’ve now seen UCLA twice hire 2nd, 3rd or 4th choices of coach, depending on who you believe. Alford and Cronin, while respectable hires, were not the kind of names I’d have expected at UCLA, not with our history and status. If guys like Few and Smart and Donovan and Stevens and, yes, Bennett aren’t seeing UCLA as one of the best jobs in the sport, then that speaks volumes about our current place in the pecking order.
I didn’t think it would be the NIL or changes with transfer/recruiting rules that finally brought us back down to earth. I actually thought it would eventually be UCLA’s lofty academic standards, which do restrict eligibility among elite athletes. But I suspect Cronin is giving scholarships these days to just about anyone who graduates from HS, making our academic reputation feel a little bogus.
Nevertheless, I still think that the right coach can elevate UCLA hoops again. We need a guy who is equally competent as a game tactician and an ambassador for the program. Cronin, imo, fails in both of these areas, and it will ultimately be the reason he’s let go.