bearcat jeff
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Good article:
The gesturing that Mick Cronin is doing in the picture above is the same that I'm doing right now towards the UC administration. The coaching carousel is starting to spin round and round. One of the names mentioned at Oklahoma, and NC State has been Mick Cronin. It seems like there have been a hundred names mentioned for the Oklahoma job, from Buzz Williams, to Lon Kruger, to Josh Pastner, to John Wooden, and John Wooden is dead. Neither school has been overly vocal about Cronin, but those in the know have mentioned that his name has been brought up. Another job just might have opened up at Purdue. There are seats available, and our coach has had his name thrown out to take one of them.
The hiring of Matt Painter by Missouri struck me as very interesting. Painter was a Purdue guy through and through. He went to Purdue. He left Southern Illinois to be a bench coach for a season under Gene Keady for a season before taking over the job. He coached his dream job. Purdue was down when Painter took over, 7-21. Within 2 seasons, Painter took the Boilermakers back to the NCAA tournament, where they have been a staple. The problem seems to be that Purdue didn't give him everything he wanted that came with the rebuilding of the program. Painter reportedly is getting 7 years, 13 mill from Missouri. That's a nice chunk of change if you can get it. It seems to be a lateral job for Painter. Maybe a little worse depending on how you feel about basketball in Indiana. I'm 100% speaking out of my ass here, but it seems that the problem has been the commitment to being a winner by Purdue. Boilermaker fans have watched Indiana go to the Final Four back in 2002. They have watched Butler go to back to back Final Fours. With the Hoosiers seemingly back on the upswing, it seems like Purdue is the forgotten child of Indiana hoops.
Cincinnati basketball has a lot of similarities to Purdue lately. Obviously the past 20 years or so the tradition has been more towards Cincinnati. The past 5 have been towards Purdue. Mick Cronin rebuilt Cincinnati from basically nothing. His wins improved every season. He started bringing in some top flight recruits like Lance Stephenson. He has a top 25 class coming in next year. He got the Bearcats back to the NCAA tournament and won a game. Cronin went to UC. He coached under Bob Huggins. He famously went to Louisville to get more pedigree as a head coach. Once he was a coach, Cronin came back to Cincinnati, no shit. Like Painter probably did, Cronin wants a committment to basketball by the UC administration. Just like Matt Painter, I think Mick will leave if he doesn't get it.
The UC administration is in a place where they are defining the direction of Cincinnati athletics the next 10 years. That sounds very dramatic, but I think it's a sound statement. Matt from DTD wrote a piece about how Mike Thomas and the administration have a mid major mentality that's really hurting things. I couldn't agree more. The best thing Brian Kelly did when he was coach of the Bearcats is raise the bar. He looked around and said "This should be better, so it's going to be better." When his name was mentioned for jobs, he publicly said what he expected UC to do. Hell, he publicly said what he wanted UC to do no matter what. He made UC change. He pushed for the Jefferson Ave sports complex. UC dragged it's feet about moving up to the middle time from the small time. Now, Mick wants the same commitment to basketball. He wants better practice facilities. He wants a bigger budget. He may want a new arena. It seems the main thing he wants is for UC basketball to go from being uc basketball when he came, to UC BASKETBALL now. That's something that I can get behind. That's something you can get behind. But, that doesn't seem to be something that the administration wants to get behind. I know I keep saying the administration, making them the straw man in this piece, but aren't they? Yes, they are. Thank you for agreeing. What we have here is a coach that wants to make things bigger and better. On the other side, we have a group of people who want to do the same, but not if it costs them too much money. It's the old classic college tale that sees coaches come and coaches go. That sees ADs come, and ADs go. It's the same song and dance that it seems everyone goes through. Now that it's happening at Cincinnati, something has to be done to stop it.
Mick Cronin has his share of detractors. There are people who think he couldn't spell offense let alone coach it. There are people wary of his game plans and halftime adjustments. There are people who think he doesn't get the most out of his players. Those people were quieted this season for the most part. Except on the offense part, that we can all agree on is horrible. Mick Cronin has his share of defenders. He may not coach offense, but he can get enough of it to win games because of the defense. This season, the guys played hard in every game but one (looking at you West Virginia). He took a team that no one thought was that great, and got them to believe they were, and win 11 games in the Big East. Do I think that Mick Cronin is a coach that will get you to the Final Four? No, I don't. Do I think he's a coach that can get you to the Sweet 16? Yes. Do I think he can coach a team to the Big East title? No. Do I think he can coach a team to a double bye? Yes. I don't think Mick Cronin is an elite coach, but I think he's turning into a very good coach. I think he's earned the opportunity to try and blossom to a Final Four coach at UC. I think he's earned the opportunity to try and win the Big East at Cincinnati. I also think that he's earned the right to reap the benefits of having success at UC. One of those successes is getting other job offers. If someone makes the right offer, I don't think Mick would think twice about taking it. Mick wants to be the best coach he can be. That's why he went to Louisville. He wanted more. He wanted to be a head coach. That opportunity came. He wants the opportunity to be a coach at a big time program. He's got that opportunity at Cincinnati. Raising the budget and upgrading the facilities are things that are going to happen in the future. The future is now. Mick has earned a little bit of security. He's earned his place. UC is turning the corner into being a Big East contender for the first time. Letting Mick Cronin walk at this point would be a great mistake. Butch Jones said it in the ESPN interview I linked to yesterday, continuity is a key part of college athletics. Look around the Big East. Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino, Dixon, Wright, Thompson, they've all been at their schools and built winning programs. Bob Huggins built a winner at Cincinnati. It can be done. We've seen what happens when UC drags it's feet on a decision, it kills the program. It can not happen again. Not when the program is off the mat. Make it happen Mike Thomas, keep UC rolling.
http://bearcatsblog.com/2011-articles/march/uc-needs-to-keep-cronin.html
The gesturing that Mick Cronin is doing in the picture above is the same that I'm doing right now towards the UC administration. The coaching carousel is starting to spin round and round. One of the names mentioned at Oklahoma, and NC State has been Mick Cronin. It seems like there have been a hundred names mentioned for the Oklahoma job, from Buzz Williams, to Lon Kruger, to Josh Pastner, to John Wooden, and John Wooden is dead. Neither school has been overly vocal about Cronin, but those in the know have mentioned that his name has been brought up. Another job just might have opened up at Purdue. There are seats available, and our coach has had his name thrown out to take one of them.
The hiring of Matt Painter by Missouri struck me as very interesting. Painter was a Purdue guy through and through. He went to Purdue. He left Southern Illinois to be a bench coach for a season under Gene Keady for a season before taking over the job. He coached his dream job. Purdue was down when Painter took over, 7-21. Within 2 seasons, Painter took the Boilermakers back to the NCAA tournament, where they have been a staple. The problem seems to be that Purdue didn't give him everything he wanted that came with the rebuilding of the program. Painter reportedly is getting 7 years, 13 mill from Missouri. That's a nice chunk of change if you can get it. It seems to be a lateral job for Painter. Maybe a little worse depending on how you feel about basketball in Indiana. I'm 100% speaking out of my ass here, but it seems that the problem has been the commitment to being a winner by Purdue. Boilermaker fans have watched Indiana go to the Final Four back in 2002. They have watched Butler go to back to back Final Fours. With the Hoosiers seemingly back on the upswing, it seems like Purdue is the forgotten child of Indiana hoops.
Cincinnati basketball has a lot of similarities to Purdue lately. Obviously the past 20 years or so the tradition has been more towards Cincinnati. The past 5 have been towards Purdue. Mick Cronin rebuilt Cincinnati from basically nothing. His wins improved every season. He started bringing in some top flight recruits like Lance Stephenson. He has a top 25 class coming in next year. He got the Bearcats back to the NCAA tournament and won a game. Cronin went to UC. He coached under Bob Huggins. He famously went to Louisville to get more pedigree as a head coach. Once he was a coach, Cronin came back to Cincinnati, no shit. Like Painter probably did, Cronin wants a committment to basketball by the UC administration. Just like Matt Painter, I think Mick will leave if he doesn't get it.
The UC administration is in a place where they are defining the direction of Cincinnati athletics the next 10 years. That sounds very dramatic, but I think it's a sound statement. Matt from DTD wrote a piece about how Mike Thomas and the administration have a mid major mentality that's really hurting things. I couldn't agree more. The best thing Brian Kelly did when he was coach of the Bearcats is raise the bar. He looked around and said "This should be better, so it's going to be better." When his name was mentioned for jobs, he publicly said what he expected UC to do. Hell, he publicly said what he wanted UC to do no matter what. He made UC change. He pushed for the Jefferson Ave sports complex. UC dragged it's feet about moving up to the middle time from the small time. Now, Mick wants the same commitment to basketball. He wants better practice facilities. He wants a bigger budget. He may want a new arena. It seems the main thing he wants is for UC basketball to go from being uc basketball when he came, to UC BASKETBALL now. That's something that I can get behind. That's something you can get behind. But, that doesn't seem to be something that the administration wants to get behind. I know I keep saying the administration, making them the straw man in this piece, but aren't they? Yes, they are. Thank you for agreeing. What we have here is a coach that wants to make things bigger and better. On the other side, we have a group of people who want to do the same, but not if it costs them too much money. It's the old classic college tale that sees coaches come and coaches go. That sees ADs come, and ADs go. It's the same song and dance that it seems everyone goes through. Now that it's happening at Cincinnati, something has to be done to stop it.
Mick Cronin has his share of detractors. There are people who think he couldn't spell offense let alone coach it. There are people wary of his game plans and halftime adjustments. There are people who think he doesn't get the most out of his players. Those people were quieted this season for the most part. Except on the offense part, that we can all agree on is horrible. Mick Cronin has his share of defenders. He may not coach offense, but he can get enough of it to win games because of the defense. This season, the guys played hard in every game but one (looking at you West Virginia). He took a team that no one thought was that great, and got them to believe they were, and win 11 games in the Big East. Do I think that Mick Cronin is a coach that will get you to the Final Four? No, I don't. Do I think he's a coach that can get you to the Sweet 16? Yes. Do I think he can coach a team to the Big East title? No. Do I think he can coach a team to a double bye? Yes. I don't think Mick Cronin is an elite coach, but I think he's turning into a very good coach. I think he's earned the opportunity to try and blossom to a Final Four coach at UC. I think he's earned the opportunity to try and win the Big East at Cincinnati. I also think that he's earned the right to reap the benefits of having success at UC. One of those successes is getting other job offers. If someone makes the right offer, I don't think Mick would think twice about taking it. Mick wants to be the best coach he can be. That's why he went to Louisville. He wanted more. He wanted to be a head coach. That opportunity came. He wants the opportunity to be a coach at a big time program. He's got that opportunity at Cincinnati. Raising the budget and upgrading the facilities are things that are going to happen in the future. The future is now. Mick has earned a little bit of security. He's earned his place. UC is turning the corner into being a Big East contender for the first time. Letting Mick Cronin walk at this point would be a great mistake. Butch Jones said it in the ESPN interview I linked to yesterday, continuity is a key part of college athletics. Look around the Big East. Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino, Dixon, Wright, Thompson, they've all been at their schools and built winning programs. Bob Huggins built a winner at Cincinnati. It can be done. We've seen what happens when UC drags it's feet on a decision, it kills the program. It can not happen again. Not when the program is off the mat. Make it happen Mike Thomas, keep UC rolling.
http://bearcatsblog.com/2011-articles/march/uc-needs-to-keep-cronin.html
