Mick Cronin can make UCLA successful on big stage, even with bigger challenges

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The window of opportunity for UCLA is not open yet. That will develop over the next few years as the other elite college basketball brands are forced to confront how they wish to handle their futures, and the Bruins are well down their chosen road.

The window of opportunity for Mick Cronin, though, will open as soon as his plane touches down in Southern California. The Bruins will not find their way back to the top of the Division I basketball mountain unless he handles the next few seasons in his customary manner: with precise attention to detail, uncommon intensity and a force of will that is too frequently underestimated because of something as superficial as his height.

UCLA entered the job market at a fortunate moment. There are forces all around college basketball conspiring to present the Bruins with the occasion to regain the prominence that once seemed predestined.

MORE: UCLA finally stumbles upon Cronin

Some of these forces are natural: As much as we might wish otherwise, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, in charge of the elite programs at Duke and North Carolina, respectively, will reach a point where continuing to coach will not be a logical option. At Kentucky, John Calipari is approaching his 60s but has made it clear he doesn’t intend to coach quite so long as some of his colleagues (although he certainly would be free to change his mind).

Some of these forces are not: Arizona and Kansas, two programs that recruited and performed with the best throughout the past decade, are wrestling with issues created by the Justice Department investigation of the basketball talent game. We do not know if there will be impact upon those programs that go beyond one departed assistant at Arizona and a suspended player and dreadful publicity for Kansas.

As it went through its prolonged coaching search, effectively launched in December with the dismissal of former coach Steve Alford, this fortuitous circumstance has always been presented but not always acknowledged. UCLA spent too much of its time searching for a coach for the next 10 minutes rather than the next 10 years. As it so often has, the athletic department found itself looking backward rather than forward.

The Bruins were not lucky to be declined by Calipari, in particular. They were foolish to waste their time and place themselves in position to be rejected. There never was any way he was taking the job.

They were not lucky to be rejected by Rick Barnes. He was smart enough to see what Calipari had done and to secure himself a better pay package and possibly some concessions from new-ish athletic director Phillip Fulmer.

UCLA almost blew it with Cronin. After the Calipari fiasco was concluded, they settled on Cronin and TCU’s Jamie Dixon as candidates. They opted for Dixon for financial reasons, then acted surprised when TCU declined to waive or reduce his $8 million buyout.

They were willing to pay more for Barnes, though they’d have been hiring a coach about to reach his 65th birthday. When that turned out to be a contract play for Barnes at Tennessee, they had little choice but to meet Cronin’s price.

Thus did UCLA fumble into a chance to change the nature of Bruins basketball, for the better, for the next 15 years.

MORE: Bearcats in same uneasy position after first-round exit

The common description of Cronin is this: He has reached only one NCAA Sweet 16 in nine years at Cincinnati. That simple assertion betrays a profound lack of understanding of the program’s position during his time with the Bearcats, as well as the nature of the tournament and college basketball itself.

He inherited not a colossal mess, but an empty gymnasium. There was no one there to make a mess. He began his first season, in 2006-07, with one returning scholarship player. And that player was a senior.

He was presented a mandate not simply to win, but to assure he did so with players who would graduate and not embarrass the university away from the court. After four years of rebuilding, the Bearcats reached the 2011 NCAA Tournament and have not missed since, one of only six teams in that category. The others: Kansas, Gonzaga, Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina.

He won conference regular-season championships in 2014 and 2018 and league tournament titles the past two years. He has done it almost without incident among his players and with most who competed as seniors completing their degrees.

Cronin also had to manage the functional demotion from the prestige and power of the Big East to the less desirable American Athletic Conference. Players who might have wished to play against Syracuse and UConn and in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden were less inclined to sign up for trips to Tulane and East Carolina. Other programs, such as UConn, Memphis and Temple, struggled with this difference. Cincinnati’s NCAA streak persisted.

That is Cronin’s history, though. What is more relevant is how his coaching skill can be applied to improving the Bruins. His teams the past seven seasons ranked in the top two in scoring defense. On a per-possession basis, they were ranked 15th on average in that period, with a high of No. 2 in 2017-18.

There is a belief that UCLA fans are seeking glamor and excitement, but after what they’ve seen for much of the past four decades — the exception being Ben Howland’s work after arriving in 2003 — many simply want a coach. Cronin is all of that. You do not lose two NBA players from a program that has had basically three in a dozen years and still find a way to win 28 games and an AAC Tournament title and not have genuine coaching ability.

He will have to develop more productive offenses. Virginia’s Tony Bennett did not break through to a national championship until he built an offense that provided greater freedom to Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter. But he was able to build it because those players were skilled enough to accept that freedom and conjure something magical.

MORE: Cincy will be coach carousel loser if it doesn't lock up Cronin

Cronin will find access to NBA-level talent at UCLA that never was imaginable at Cincinnati. The trick will be to assure those players suit him, and to manage their experiences while on campus. The most challenging aspect of this job is not the expectations of fans who supposedly believe the John Wooden days can be reprised. It’s the agents.

Southern California is home to such a large number of player agencies. They can be a constant presence around the program, and an overwhelming annoyance. UCLA surely ranks among the all-time leaders in players turning pro without being regular starters in college. Center Ike Anigbogu averaged 13 minutes as a freshman in 2016-17. He was gone in less than a year. Forward Tyler Honeycutt and guards Zach LaVine and guard Jrue Holiday followed similar paths, albeit after achieving greater success.

Cronin’s life at Cincinnati was simpler. His family was nearby. He had a solid roster and a working formula for keeping the Bearcats relevant. When the university declined to offer him a reasonable contract extension last fall, however, and allowed that substandard offer to linger through the winter, Cronin got the chance to ponder whether it might be worth taking a shot at greatness.

This is what UCLA wants. Nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments would be wonderful in Westwood, but wouldn’t make Cronin a wizard. There eventually will need to be advancement. There will need to be Bruins capable of challenging for league titles, Final Fours and maybe even national titles.

That’s the door UCLA wants to enter. Cronin has the ability to open it for them, and to keep it ajar well into the future.

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Mike DeCourcy is a Senior Writer at The Sporting News