In Reply to: Yes and even more foolish to judge a team … posted by mikeo on January 10, 2026 at 11:16:31
Secondly, almost every coaching hire is a gamble of sorts. I'm with you in terms of Cronin. In spite of a lot of the talk here on this board, he is a proven good coach.
So, my response was to the old narratives of Smart or Drew or any of the other names endlessly bantered about here on some sort of endless loop of hopeful thinking an ceaseless searching for the greener grass on the other side of the fence. I offered some outside the box thinking. Why not take a look at and a possible gamble on an up and comer instead of looking for a grade A commodity?
The football program did just that. No one knows if that will work but I think they made a good move and we'll see. I know that Chesney has a better resume then the guys I mentioned but it's still a gamble of sorts. Good for them to choose this guy.
Now, specifically in response to your post - I know it is customary here on this board to offer rebuttals to others' posts but bringing in one game as proof of someone not worthy of consideration, well I think you too would say that's a bit of stretch.
You bring up good points. Points that I'm already aware of, but nonetheless good points. There's always negatives to consider no matter who is in question. One has to weight the positives and negatives and try to measure what, if any, potential is there. Potential is not measured entirely by accomplishment and can't always be quantified, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Potential is always a trip into the future and trying to read the tea leaves to see what, if anything, is there.
The two guys I mentioned, with all their negatives and lack of experience, IMO have potential to be very good D1 coaches. Sometimes it's better to move on something before it's been establish rather than wait until it is a proven brand. It can also be very profitable. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.
Like I said before, this is all moot because Cronin isn't going anywhere and IMO Cronin could very well turn out to be a very successful UCLA coach for many years to come and retire some years down the line as a Bruin with almost everybody happy he stayed and another championship banner or two to hang. We'll see.