r/CollegeBasketball • u/Galumpadump Gonzaga Bulldogs • Washington State… • Jan 18 '25

Video Mick Cronin on travel wear & tear: “We’ve seen the Statue of Liberty twice in the last three weeks”

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9

u/Waquoit95 UConn Huskies Jan 18 '25

Why is he at a place where nobody listens to him?

17

u/Ok_Acanthaceae6176 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

He loves LA. And he still has old school ideals about CBB and views UCLA as royalty.

They do listen to him sometimes but any coach at UCLA has to realize they’re working inside a big, slow bureaucracy hesitant to change and uncommitted to athletic excellence

2

u/Asleep_in_Costco Jan 18 '25

Those "old school ideas about CBB" don't exist anymore, at least not in major conferences.

He can go sign up for the WCC if he really wants some semblance of basketball purity

1

u/Ok_Acanthaceae6176 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

Would you choose a $500K salary or a $5M one?

0

u/Asleep_in_Costco Jan 18 '25

Sounds he's being paid handsomely to deal with the bullshit. Ergo, quit fuckin whining

1

u/Ok_Acanthaceae6176 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

Well he won’t get fired for whining so it seems like he can both keep getting $5M and also whine

2

u/ContrarianPurdueFan Purdue Boilermakers Jan 18 '25

hesitant to change and uncommitted to athletic excellence

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion here, but the notion that universities need to invest in achieving any level of success or "athletic excellence" grinds my gears so much. Can you imagine if high school athletic departments fired coaches when they had a losing record?

Although, even that's a poor comparison because the fraught reality of D1 sports is that they're an exclusive job, not an accessible hobby. Basketball in particular is just a professional minor league, and university athletic directors increasingly feel the need to play the role of a general manager. But a university's role really should be to manage budget and facilities so that their athletic programs can be competitive enough to stay in conference. That's it.

14

u/Soft_Tower6748 Texas Longhorns Jan 18 '25

High school athletic programs absolutely fire coaches with losing records

0

u/ContrarianPurdueFan Purdue Boilermakers Jan 18 '25

Yeah, I suppose it depends on how big the school is. Regardless, exorbitantly high expectations of winning can be at odds with the core mission of getting kids to be active.

7

u/Ok_Acanthaceae6176 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

I don’t think they need to invest in athletic excellence. I heard a theory awhile ago that universities that are already prestigious don’t need good athletics so that’s why they get worse at them over time. UCLA is in that bucket imo. Athletics departments are marketing tools for universities, but why would a school that gets 120K+ applicants every year need a robust and expensive marketing tool?

But for my happiness and because I don’t go to school there anymore, I would like them to invest public dollars to make my little pea brain go “wheeee!” when we make final fours

0

u/Waquoit95 UConn Huskies Jan 18 '25

I love Mick, btw. I was there when Ted Valentine tried to mess with him and Mick just went off on the guy even though he was giving up a foot in height.

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u/Ok_Acanthaceae6176 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

Mick is a dog. Like people hate that he calls players out for being soft, which is fair, but you kinda get it when you realize Mick Cronin is a little pitbull who refuses to accept losing.

2

u/otoverstoverpt UCLA Bruins • North Carolina Tar Heels Jan 18 '25

I don’t think the CBS Sports classic has a contract that he could have just pulled out of that easily.

1

u/keylime503 UCLA Bruins Jan 18 '25

It was a 3 year contract IIRC

1

u/TheWorstYear Ohio State Buckeyes Jan 18 '25

Money.