The following story ran in the 2019 Summer Edition of Bruin Blue Magazine.

By Jon Gold
 
Early on in UCLA's search for a new head men's basketball coach, one conversation set the tone. Legendary Bruin Bill Walton, one of several former players and Bruin stakeholders who UCLA reached out to, had expressed to the search committee that his only desire was that UCLA would land someone who the community and the campus would be able to rally behind. And most importantly, somebody who understood and respected "who we are and what we are."

Through an exhaustive search that left no stone unturned, it was something that Mick Cronin said early that most meshed with Walton's message and struck a chord with the committee.

"What was really compelling for us is he just blew us away with his clarity of vision of what UCLA is and what it can be," said Athletics Director Guerrero during Cronin's introductory press conference on April 10. "He's the right guy to lead our program where we want to go, and that of course is national championships."

What UCLA is, and what it can be: in short, the two reasons Mick Cronin ended up in Los Angeles.

***

Cronin has always admired UCLA from afar.

He grew up watching college basketball, and specifically the Bruins, with his father, Harold "Hep" Cronin, a high school basketball coaching legend in Ohio.

"I still remember Rod Foster against Ohio State in 1980," said Cronin. "I was nine years old." 

In 2017, after the Bruins defeated Cincinnati, 79-67, in the second round of the NCAA tournament, behind Lonzo Ball's 18 points, Cronin jumped at the chance to schedule a home-and-home series with UCLA. Once his operations manager gave him the confirmation, Cronin got excited. "I don't even know why, I immediately called my Dad," Cronin remembers. "'You won't believe this. I just booked a home and home with UCLA. We get to play in Pauley next year.' I hung up and called my brother, and he said, 'What's the date?' My brother never leaves Cincy. He won't leave the west side. He doesn't even go to the east side. He won't leave his neighborhood. Well, he immediately booked flights."
 

They played on a Saturday, but the Bearcats arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday, giving Cronin a chance to see a place he'd only fantasized about. He woke up early the day before the game, strolled through campus at 7 a.m., "not ever thinking I'm gonna be the coach." School officials offered the Bearcats a choice of facilities for practice; Cronin picked Pauley Pavilion. He'd been to Los Angeles "a million times," but he'd never been to Pauley.

Ever since his hire, it seems like he can't leave. He and new associate head coach Darren Savino, who joined his staff at Cincinnati in 2011, have barely left campus.
"It feels like a million years and it's been 12 days," Cronin said.

Like Cronin, his new top lieutenant Savino recalls his early memories of Pauley Pavilion, even from across the country in New Jersey.

"Anybody who has played or loves basketball, you can't get that image of UCLA out of your mind," Savino said. "You see the videos of Wooden and Walton and Lew Alcindor. You heard about it all the time. I'm on the other side of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, and you know these things about UCLA. It seemed like you knew everything about it. You've never been there, but because you saw and read all these things about Westwood, you always wanted to see it. You're intrigued by it."
Cronin was more than intrigued, even if he knows what could have been.

In another universe, Cronin stays at Cincinnati, remains at home, and has dinners with the family — the whole family and iced tea by the pool, feet up. He golfs — some nice golf. After all, nine-straight NCAA tournament appearances can buy you some relaxation.

Instead, he had to just go ahead and upend his life.

"We'd just had a great season. I could stay (at Cincinnati), with everything on autopilot," he said. "When you go to take a job, you're turning a switch on. Your first year, you get no offseason. You have to talk to everyone from former players, to boosters, to staff. It's 24/7. But you've got to know that when you take the job."

For Cronin, it was perfect timing.

For nine-straight summers, athletic directors across the country kicked the tires on the Cincinnati kid. Every year, Cronin felt "I couldn't even take a job now, I'm so tired from the season. For years, I'd laugh, I'm not doing that again. I don't have it in me. This will take years off your life."

Over the last couple years, though, he'd been answering nagging questions in his own head. If he was going to take a next step, if he was going to swing for the fences just once, this was the time. And he knew that if he did take the leap, he was going to try to fly.

"You know what it entails if you're going to do it right," he said. "Some look it at as a golden parachute job. That's not me. I'm still young enough. I knew when the day came, it was 100 miles an hour and you're starting over. You've lost all your equity."

In Cincinnati, he built up a ton of equity, forming real relationships with boosters, the community, and even the media. And then, of course, there were his players — both former and current — some of whom he'd first met nearly a decade prior.

Next season, the Bearcats are due to return 11 scholarship players from a 28-win team. During one of Cronin's last meetings with his players, right around the Final Four, he told them he believed they could be there next year.
But there was that voice on the inside. It beckoned.

"You're sitting there thinking it would it be nice to have a chance to be on that level," he said. "You're always wondering."

***

What UCLA is: The House That Wooden Built. Eleven national championships, an NCAA record. Ten titles in 12 years. Four undefeated seasons. Eighteen Final Fours and 22 Elite Eights. Nearly 40 All-Americans. Eight NBA MVPs and 36 first-round picks. Nine Naismith Hall of Famers.

"We wanted an individual who had a keen understanding of what UCLA was all about, who had an appreciation for UCLA, and certainly for the teachings of Coach Wooden," said Guerrero. "We wanted to hire a basketball coach who really wanted to be here, and that was really important. Really wanted to be here, to be a Bruin, to exhibit the pride of a Bruin, who'd embrace Los Angeles and embrace this university. From the moment we met Mick, he conveyed a strong desire to be here."

What UCLA can be:

"You get excited because you know that if you can get the right people and push hard in developing that culture, with the kind of talent you can attract here, it can be special," Savino said. "In Mick's mind, he's thinking 'I'm coming to UCLA and our goal is to win a national championship. That's why we're here. That's in our mind. That's our goal. That's our vision.' The advantages are right here at your fingers. We have to be diligent and make sure we add talented people around us on our staff who have that kind of vision. It's going to take time to develop it. But the kids on the team all came here because it's a special place."

***

For Cronin, there was one big conversation that kicked things off.

"You always have an eye on your future, and for me, my daughter is the most important thing that I'll ever do in life," he said. "That was a huge factor."

Before he could commit to UCLA, Cronin had to get the go-ahead from 12-year-old daughter Sammi, and his ex-wife, Sammi's mother, Darlene. The two share custody of Sammi, and if Darlene and Sammi were not on board, neither was he.

"Chapel Hill could've called, and I'm not saying I wouldn't have done it, but it's not Los Angeles," he said. "It might have been great for me, but not for my daughter."

Cronin has plenty of friends in Southern California having visited countless times. During his introductory press conference, he told of a vacation out west with Sammi four years ago, during which he told her, "This is the best school in the world."

"That's a true story and, then, finally, after about five days, she goes, 'We don't have to ever go home do we?'" he continued. "We're driving back down to Santa Monica and she says, 'You know, Dad, they've got a high school.'"
 

Still, this was a challenge and a big one. One the search committee understood of and respected.

"Mick had an unbelievable situation where he was," said Sr. Associate Athletic Director Josh Rebholz, who served on the search committee. "Born and raised in Cincinnati. Entire family lives there. It was a very drastic change, and we never disrespected that on our end. One of the first things he said is this has to make sense for my family. I'm not coming if my daughter and ex-wife don't want to come. He had to leave something that was very comfortable, very familiar. He had it rolling there and was going to continue to be successful at a high level. It was comfortable for him."

For Savino, someone who knows him quite well, it took a big opportunity to pry Cronin from that life.

"Loving his alma mater, loving the city of Cincinnati, he was every bit a part of the fabric there in that community," Savino said. "It was hard for me to see him anywhere else. He's had plenty of opportunities in my nine years. Every year. After a while, it got to a point where they wouldn't gauge interest. Mick wouldn't leave Cincinnati. But this was an opportunity he had to really consider closely. It was something he couldn't turn down. The history, the tradition and all that it entails. An unbelievable place to live. Bringing his daughter and having her experience this for her life. If he was ever going to leave, this was the kind of place he'd leave for."

The search committee had an inkling of that from the very beginning.

"The first day we met with him, he was all-in," Rebholz said. "We went through this process with several people, engaged them and explained what we had to offer. You could learn very early on what was a priority for some of these people. People's true colors start to show."

Turns out, Cronin's true colors might just be blue and gold.