In Reply to: I don't think it's fair to judge Coach Cronin in the current NCAA posted by atrojanedbruin on March 26, 2026 at 05:34:25
Let me be clearer: the 2025-26 UCLA Bruins were a top 10 team to begin the season. That says something about the level of talent and experience on this roster. And if you like, it even gives some benefit of the doubt to Cro-magnon.
Now that season has passed, and Cro-magnon has fallen short of expectations yet again, it's long past time to have a clear-eyed assessment of this man's competence and performance. He continues to embarrass the program, his players and himself with his unprofessional, boorish public behavior, but more damningly, his teams are inconsistent, often unprepared, and outplayed.
If we focus too much on the roster, the NIL landscape, and what other programs are doing, we lose the plot a little. The plot is that we hired Cro-magnon in 2019, and the only success he's had is with players he didn't recruit. Players, that is, who committed to play for Steve Alford at UCLA but stuck around because, well, it's freaking UCLA. Find me one video or interview where one of Cro-magnon's players says that they came to UCLA because of him. Has never happened. UCLA will always get elite talent because it's UCLA. Having a coach like Cro-magnon will continually hamstring and weaken the program, when we could be doing much better with recruiting and wins/losses.
I'll keep pointing out Cro-magnon's incompetence till I'm blue in the face because for some reason most don't want to call it what it is.