Daugherty Article Illustrates What Is Wrong With Parts Of The Cincinnati Media
By Chris Bains
Feb 6, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin in the first half against the Connecticut Huskies at FifthThird Arena. Cincinnati defeated UConn 63-58. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
On Friday the Cincinnati Enquirer released a column titled “UD AD needs to make basketball a priority“. I was intrigued by the headline and at first glance completely agreed with what I assumed the content of the article would be about; shifting resources to improving Bearcats basketball.
After all, we can pretty much put the focus on UC football on the back burner. The Nippert Stadium renovation project is full-steam ahead with nothing stopping it from being seen to fruition in 2015. The state of the art press box complete with thousands of luxury seats will finally bring the venue up to collegiate standards and pour millions of dollars into the budget.
Additionally the project will go a long way to keeping Tommy Tuberville and his staff happy. New Nippert will be a monument illustrating the administration’s support of UC football. But the coaches are not only seeing it in this manner but in their wallets. Tuberville and his staff are among the highest paid coaches in the AAC. In fact, the head coach himself reels in a salary that ranks in the top-40 of all of college football. So unless a position at an elite program opens up, we can probably expect these guys to stick around for quite a while.
Therefore it only makes sense for new Cincinnati athletic director Mike Bohn to focus most of his efforts on improving the basketball side of the equation. Upgrading Fifth Third Arena or developing a plan to renovate US Bank Arena would effectively put all of the problems to bed. No coach in the country deserves a state of the art venue more than Mick Cronin but provide some smaller changes like a bigger budget and a private plane would go a long way to making him happy.
And for the most part this article conveys that idea but the manner in which it presents the argument rubs me the wrong way. Just take a look at snippets like this:
"Mick Cronin’s loyalty is unusual, but not everlasting. He’s not a globe-trotting mercenary or a Larry Brown-like hired gun. He’s still Mick from La Salle. But he has been around long enough to know how the game is played."
and this.
"The new athletic director, Mike Bohn, needs to make basketball a priority. He needs to think seriously and quickly about increasing Cronin’s budget and his salary. Bohn needs to get up to speed on the need for a new arena. He needs to do it yesterday. Because if he doesn’t, someone else will.Cronin won’t say any of this; maybe he doesn’t even believe it. But a Top 25 program should have a Top 25 budget. This is a Top 25 program. Right now, it’s more than that. Cronin shouldn’t have to raise his own money to make sure his team travels on charter airplanes. Speaking of airplanes, Cronin shouldn’t have to scramble for use of a private plane, for recruiting purposes, the way he does now."
and this.
"Either UC antes up, or folds and becomes Houston. Or South Florida. Or Central Florida. You get the drift."
You see, the gist of the article makes perfect sense; get Mick Cronin some more money, a private plane, and a new arena, dagnabbit! But the argument Daugherty uses is purely negative, implying that if these changes aren’t made the Cincinnati head coach will be one foot out the door if he isn’t already.
Nevermind that Mick’s father and brother live in town and attend just about every home game. Nevermind that he has custody rights over his daughter. I’m no lawyer but I have to believe if Mick left the state of Ohio, that would severely impede his ability to see his Sammi on a regular basis.
Furthermore, Daugherty states that if Cincinnati doesn’t give the UC head coach what he deserves not only will he be gone to another school that can but Bearcats basketball will be annihilated back to the dark ages as a result. He cites current AAC dregs Houston, South Florida, and Central Florida as examples of where Cincinnati could be heading. But, surprise surprise, Daugherty doesn’t even bother to mention that none of those team’s history of success could even begin to stack up with UC’s. Nor does he cite the fact the talent on the roster is upward trending with better and better recruits signing on to become Bearcats every year.
I think what bothers me most about this column from Daugherty is that it comes during a time of unprecedented success under Mick Cronin. On Friday the Bearcats were flying high having just beaten #22 UConn at home to extend their winning streak to 15. Additionally, the no. 7 ranking was the highest Cincinnati had ever risen during the Cronin era. Then Daugherty drops this bomb to dampen our spirits. Sure he mentions all of the reasons why Mick deserves more support but does he really have to go a step further and imply that he is out the door if the needs aren’t met? Is that really necessary?
No.
But I shouldn’t be surprised by this. You see, Daugherty is the face the old guard in the Cincinnati media, with the Koch’s and Cunningham’s whose soul purpose in life is to rain on everyone’s parade. They have an “if it’s not negative, it’s not newsworthy” mentality and try to scare anyone who is willing to listen to them into believe that their words are like scripture. Furthermore, all three of them have the ego to shut out the large (and growing, believe me) group of naysayers who see above their negativity.
So at the end of the day, what can we take away from this article? Not a whole lot other than what we already know; Mick Cronin deserves more money, a private plane, and an arena that doesn’t hark back to the days when these were in style. But is the UC head coach out the door if one or all of these needs aren’t met? Absolutely not and to assume Cronin is any less loyal to Cincinnati today than he was three years ago would be ignorant and narrow minded.