In Reply to: Re: Is Cronin the right coach for UCLA? posted by jerseybruin on December 02, 2025 at 15:32:00
concerning recruiting. I'm not sure there are many beyond a few who really do know. But from the little public information we do get there are numerous highly regarded recruits who list UCLA among their final schools they are considering. Not everyone makes those lists. In this regard UCLA and Cronin are having some level of impact on recruits. We don't, in the end, know what factors determine a recruit's ultimate choice.
Cronin, in the profession, is highly regarded by his peers and the general basketball community. His record of achievements puts him in the upper levels and his teams regularly compete at high levels, rarely get blown out, and his players become better basketball players.
In the previous six seasons at UCLA he has won nearly 70% of his games both conference and total season games. There was one season where there was no post season and Cronin has taken the Bruins to post season play 4 out of the other 5 seasons with 1 final four, another team that probably would have gone to the final four except for injuries, 1 sweet sixteen, and one exiting in the round of 32. The other team that didn't make the playoffs was with a roster full of young foreign players and even that team he had on the brink of exceeding expectations and maybe squeaking into post season play except that upon getting to the brink of turning the corner their youth caught up with them and they were unable to take the next step in their development and rather then improving things fell apart. Even with their losing record of 16-17 and missing post season play I thought Cronin did a very good job of coaching to get that team, by mid conference play, in a position to even see the next step toward success. From my perspective that season may have been Cronin's best coaching job in his UCLA tenure.
Cronin isn't my favorite coach and there are a lot of things about him that rub me the wrong way, but he is, IMO, an excellent coach. I believe with more NIL money he can take UCLA to another championship or at least be a serious contender for one. He's already done that at UCLA in two seasons. The next step is to do that almost every season. I believe he can attain that. Cronin strikes me as an individual who does not rest on his laurels. He will keep striving, adjusting, competing and being successful. I get why some people are frustrated with him, and maybe there's someone else out there who might be a better fit - maybe. UCLA right now, however, has an excellent coach and IMO it might be a fool's folly or premature to be looking elsewhere for some other "golden boy" to get UCLA to the so-called "promise land."