Is the UCLA head coach a candidate for the Indiana opening?
This article is part of a series profiling potential candidates for the Indiana men’s basketball coaching job. The others will be linked below.
Indiana is set to welcome UCLA and Mick Cronin to Assembly Hall on Friday night. Is there a chance that the program is also welcoming its next leader, unbeknownst to both parties?
Unlikely. But let’s entertain the possibility.
Cronin’s name has been floated for openings in previous coaching cycles. As an Ohio native, those openings are typically in that general region of the country such as Louisville and now Indiana.
On top of that, Cronin is pretty openly irritated with the recent changes in the collegiate sports model. He’s openly (correctly, I believe) derided conference realignment with an emphasis on what it’s done to UCLA, which now has to play plenty of games several timezones away from its own eastward.
Cronin doesn’t really mind NIL though, that’s not on his list of complaints. What isn’t much of a secret is that UCLA has had to play some catch-up in the NIL landscape, especially in comparison with other big brand or blue blood programs.
Would all of that, a return to his home region of the country at a program with championship-caliber resources and a ready-made NIL setup, prove enticing to Cronin? And even if it did, would Indiana have mutual interest?
Maybe?
Cronin isn’t first on Indiana’s list of calls to make and he probably isn’t second either. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was somewhere on the list though.
Including Cronin, each of the past three UCLA coaches has led the program to a 30+ win season. He was an NCAA Tournament mainstay at Cincinnati and, outside of last year and his first in Los Angeles, has kept that going at UCLA.
In his three NCAA Tournament appearances with the Bruins he’s never stopped dancing any sooner than the Sweet Sixteen, taking the Bruins to the Final Four in 2021. He’d almost certainly bring similar consistency and success to Indiana.
But, a few things.
Indiana’s past two coaching hires, Archie Miller and Mike Woodson, were both defensive-oriented guys. Just like Cronin.
Cronin cut his teeth as an assistant under Rick Pitino, defensive mastermind, at Louisville. That probably wasn’t enough time to fully absorb Pitino’s knowledge and principles but Cronin has had plenty of years as a Division-I head coach to tweak and perfect his system.
The result? A unit of menacing guards who get in passing lanes and pressure ballhandlers all over the court. Cronin’s defenses wear opponents down as the games go on, mucking it up until they’re the last ones left standing.
Indiana’s fanbase and probably other influential voices around the program would probably want a coach that brings in an innovative, modern offensive system as a salve to the issues of the past eight years or so. That doesn’t mean Cronin would be considered less, but it’s part of the overall picture.
Also, Cronin has a very particular personality. He’s old school, wearing a suit on the sidelines as he lays into his players and wears his thoughts and feelings on his sleeve in interactions with the press.
Put a personality like that in a fishbowl like Bloomington and you’re asking for some level of friction with media, fans and others. That’s not to say it wouldn’t necessarily work here but it’s worth wondering if Cronin is the type of guy this job calls for, the one willing to interact and lead the fanbase while corralling Indiana’s donors and other interests behind him.
Cronin is, at the very least, an interesting name to toss around. Maybe he’d be interested and maybe said interest would be mutual. I wouldn’t bet on him being the one to land the job though.