There isn't really much difference between Mick Cronin and Ben Howland with respect to coaching philosophy. Both emphasized defense over offense. Howland's three Final Four seasons all had top-5 defenses, but only one with an offense higher than #27. They had similar offensive rankings over their UCLA careers. Howland had had top-30 offenses four times and Cronin three. But Howland had five seasons over #70, Cronin just one.
So how did these coaches who "can't coach offense" end up with highly rated offenses seven seasons? Here is a possible explanation:
Of the 15 Howland/Cronin seasons (not counting this year and last year since all of the players haven't had a chance to make the NBA yet):
Seasons with three or more future NBA players (minimum 82 games): Top-30 offenses 6 times, >50 offenses 1 time.
Seasons with fewer than three future NBA players (minimum 82 games): Top-50 offenses 1 time, >50 offenses 6 times.
So the two defensive coaches had their best offenses when they had several NBA quality players. Of the seven top-30 offenses, two had three future NBA players, three had four future NBA players and one had five.
What about offensive dominant coaches? Steve Alford coached all "O" but no "D". Of his six seasons, he had three future NBA players only twice, but had a top-40 offense four times and was #51 another. But his defensive ranking averaged 111 his last four seasons. Neglecting defense for offense is not a formula for winning. Almost every national champion has had a top-10 or near defensive ranking.
Now the number of future NBA players is only a rough estimate of the total talent on the team, but the huge difference in the rankings they generate is some evidence to support the contention that deficiencies in coaching offense can be compensated for by having talented offensive players, e.g. coach defense/recruit offense.
So while all the suggestions here by the armchair coaches to fix the offense might marginally improve the efficiency, maybe the real solution is just to get more future NBA players on the team. How many do we have now? Any? Cronin's current problem is more recruiting than coaching. As the numbers show, the offense can be quite good under his system with the right players. You can't sacrifice defense for offense as we found out with Alford.
(For a solution, scroll down.)