‘Tis The Season, Publications Arbitrarily Listing Mick Cronin As Candidate For Coaching Positions

(Mick Cronin’s “are you serious?!” face)

Cincinnati Bearcats fans, you know the routine. Your head coach has exceeded the “normal” expectations of a program believed to be also-rans in the world of major college athletics. Given UC’s conference situation and mediocre budget, Cincinnati is clearly a stepping stone for said coach to move on to lead more “illustrious” programs around the country. At least that’s what the mainstream media would have you believe.

So it’s no surprise that as soon as certain head coaching positions opened up Mick Cronin’s name was arbitrarily listed among candidates for the role despite no deeper research being made. ESPN’s Andy Katz started off the hoopla by including the UC head coach as a potential candidate for the same position with UCLA and USC. Now he does mention him in a blurb along with other coaches classified as “wild cards” but putting him on any list and especially with those particular schools just shows how little investigation into Mick’s situation was done.

First of all, Cincinnati is Mick Cronin’s dream job. You could also probably add Louisville to that short list but for all intents and purposes Mick is coaching where he ultimately wants to be, the University of Cincinnati. Remember, he was an assistant for 4 seasons under Bob Huggins during the recent most recent golden age of Bearcats basketball. It was Huggins who groomed him into the outstanding defensive coach he is today.

Secondly, if Mick was going to leave Clifton it sure as hell wouldn’t be for a job all the way across the country. It would most likely be for the program I mentioned above, Louisville, but it doesn’t look like Rick Petino is going anywhere anytime soon. But UCLA or USC? Not a chance, even with the history and wealth the Bruins have to offer. Plus the West coast is way outside of Mick’s comfort zone. He’s never held a coaching job further West of Kentucky and most of his recruiting is focused around the New York City area and the East coast in general.

Not to mention Mick is simply a Cincinnati guy. He grew up in Cincinnati watching his father Hep basically rewrite the book on coaching high school basketball in the area. Not unlike most sons of coaches, Mick also played hoops himself at LaSalle High School, eventually becoming an assistant at Woodward High School while going to school at the UC. This helped him break into the college ranks where he earned that assistant coaching gig under Huggins. The rest, as they say, is history*.

*You can read more about Mick’s history with Cincinnati and UC here.

But none of this didn’t come to the minds of writers at major publications when they were typing in Mick Cronin’s name whenever a new head coaching position became available. It wasn’t just UCLA or more laughably USC but when Minnesota fired Tubby Smith, the Cincinnati coach’s name again popped up. This one only worried me slightly more than the previous two because of its proximity to Mick’s natural recruiting grounds and the fact that Big Ten basketball is pretty darn competitive. However most coaches right now don’t want to even touch the Golden Gophers program after the first coach to lead them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since the mid-90’s was canned. Mick Cronin is many things but stupid isn’t one of them and taking the Minnesota job would have been a high risk, low reward situation.

At this point, Mick is staying at Cincinnati. He’s wisely turned down any potential offer from Minnesota and UCLA/USC just didn’t make sense anyways. When you’re reading these publications throwing his name out there like candy just remember a few things:

1. Mick Cronin is coaching at his dream job and only Louisville would likely tear him away from UC.
2. Mick Cronin bleeds Cincinnati moreso than any current high-profile coach in the area, college or pros.
3. Mick Cronin is divorced and his daughter is here in Cincinnati. Any move to uproot his family could potentially affect his custody rights.
4. Mick Cronin’s wheelhouse recruiting wise is in the East.

What those four facts add up to is that he will be the Bearcats’ head coach for the foreseeable future. So given his loyalty and commitment to UC and the city of Cincinnati it would only make sense to reward Mick with a hefty raise in his contract as well as an extension. Something in the 10-year, $2 million per range would be nice.

Make it happen, Whit!