In Reply to: Re: New coach in 2026? posted by BruinsFTW on September 17, 2024 at 15:10:13
I’ve been critical of Cronin, especially regarding his behavior on the court. It’s also ironic that we fired Howland partly because of his style of play, yet hired someone with a very similar approach. For the record, I’m not opposed to a defense-first strategy.
That said, I think it's a minority view to say we were thriving in 2017. Lonzo and Leaf were great recruits, but anyone following UCLA recruiting knew we were getting all the Ball brothers, unless something catastrophic happened—which it did under Alford. Despite having a top-10 recruiting class, Alford’s 2018-19 season was disastrous, marked by the loss to Liberty and the China debacle.
It’s been a while since UCLA truly 'thrived,' depending on how you define it. We’ve had some good years, but every coach has had their ups and downs. Personally, I think we let Howland go too soon rather than rallying behind him, but that’s in the past. At this point, we need continuity. While I’m not Cronin’s biggest fan, it’s hard to argue with his results, with the exception of last year. This season is critical, and if it’s another down year, he’ll deservedly be on the hot seat.
As for the recruits, there's an old saying: a good coach will beat you with his players or yours. So I'll give him the benifit of the doubt with regards to Alford's recruits.This year, Cronin has a whole new group of other coaches' recruits, and I’m curious to see how he does with them. It's a fresh approach at UCLA, the previous one hasn’t worked. Even great recruits tend to leave after one year, whether for the NBA, the second round, or the D-League. It’s a pattern that plagued Howland, Alford, and now Cronin.
In this new era of NIL college basketball, we need a coach who can build a balanced roster: system players who will stay for four years, high-quality transfers to fill gaps, and a few one-and-done recruits. It seems Cronin might be on the verge of achieving that balance. Time will tell.