Yes, there are a few trolls on this board who hate Cronin no matter what. There are also those with rose colored glasses. I think Cronin is a decent coach. He may very well take a team with no big names next year back to the ncaa tournament. But if we are being honest this team is nowhere close to a final four contender let alone a national championship contender. Since I've been alive that's been the standard at ucla. So why would accept this? And no matter how you spin things it is very hard to think big name recruits are not going to view the Mara and Dent situations as reasons to look elsewhere:
1. As a reminder Mara played 14 minutes a game under Cronin in his sophomore year, despite the fact we had no other true center and despite the fact that he led the team in per minute scoring, rebounding, blocks and the team was noticeably better with him on the floor. To no reasonable person's surprise he transfers, and proceeds to anchor a national championship team on the way to becoming a likely lottery pick.
2. Cronin gets Dent, a pre season all american. Dent struggles for most of season under Cronin's system, only coming on somewhat at end of year but fades in tournament. He gets nowhere near draft boards and retires from the sport.
There is no way to spin these 2 failures to recruits. No other UCLA coach with Cronin's results has survived this long. I think it's time for Cronin to go.