Old Cronin article from 2001

[waterhead]

I was doing a search and found this article written at the time when Cronin switched from UC to Louisville. The guy writing it is obviously upset and so you will see by the title. The more I read it the more ironic it became when viewed from today's perspective. It tells about how he screwed up his chance to coach UC basketball someday by defecting to Louisville. The author makes it sound as if Cronin is a traitor (at the time) as opposed to simply doing what it took to further his goal of becoming a D1 head coach. It's quite amusing:D

The direct link is not working it asks for my registration. Try this google search page link and click on The Traitorous Mick Cronin link.

http://www.google.com/search?q=mick+cronin&hl=en&start=10&sa=N

[bearcatd]

Coincidentally, Mick would not be the Head Coach here if he had stuck around. It looks like a good decision by Mick 6 years ago.

[Bearcat_DF]

Coincidentally, Mick would not be the Head Coach here if he had stuck around. It looks like a good decision by Mick 6 years ago.

I wish you hadn't drudge that back up. It reminded me how upset I was when Cronin left, not for just any team, but to our top rival in conference. I still remember booing him when he returned for his for first game back.

It is interesting, we have had a lot of discussion about character on this board. What does it say about Mick's?

I'm open to be persuaded, but I am having a hard time imagining a positive spin on when he left.

Go Cats!
DF

[waterhead]

Mick had an opportunity to coach and learn behind another coaching legend. Any person aspiring to be a D1 coach one day would not be doing themselves any favors to bypass an opportunity to learn from two of the greatest coaches alive. Think how much he stood to learn by getting a perspective on coaching the game from two legends. Why did it have to be in conference and why Louiville? Because Pitino wasn't coaching at Creighton. Did he stab anyone in the back? Please...he took an opportunity to further his coaching career. Did it sting a little when it happened? It sure did but put yourself in his shoes. Did it work out for Mick and UC in the long run? It looks that way but that remains to be seen. I think words like "traitor", "lack of character", or "back stabber" are a little over the top.

I, for one, am certainly happy that Mick took the opportunity to learn from both Huggins and Pitino right now aren't you? We always knew he could recruit (even back then) so if he can't "coach", after learning from two of the games greatest, he probably never will.

[General Woundwort]

If Mick hadn't left, it would have been very difficult for him to ever land a D-1 coaching job. He attended UC, worked as a grad assistant there, and then an assistant coach. He needed to broaden his experience. Not only that, but Huggins did not have a very good track record of grooming assistants for head coaching jobs, unlike Pitino (Billy Donovan & Tubby Smith, for example).

[Bearcat_DF]

I am trying to think of another occassion when an assist has left one program for another program in the same conference.

I'm not sure the forum archives go back to the summer of 2001 (I think that is when Cronin left). It would be interesting to read the discussion from back then. I can not remember a whole lot of Cronin supporters at that time. I definitely remember 13,000+ detractors when he walked back into the Shoe.

My wife and I have a little song we sing to one another on occasions like this - R-A-T . . . I-O-N . . . A-L-I-Z-E (it goes really well with the Mickey Mouse club tune).

It is interesting to hear how wonderful Pitino is. I seem to remember when Pitino's name on this forum was mud - actually, it was slick Rick and that was about the best that was said of him.

Finally, Jerry (and especially rALph) will want me to point out that Dan Peters left to take another assistant's position. And, while it was not to a conference rival, it was to our biggest in-state competitor for recruits (not sure you can really call them a rival when you only play 1x every 40 years). I think it is fair to say that Huggins didn't necessarily develop his assistants well during that period. However, AK and Frank Martin have done alright.

Go Cats!
DF

[waterhead]

I wasn't following the situation that closely back then. I can't imagine a scenario where Mick comes back into the Shoe under Pitino and doesn't hear some boos. That's a given. I also can't imagine it would be a popular decision with UC fans when he left for Louisville.

As far as Pitino goes it doesn't matter what you want to call him "Slick Rick" or something else. Fans of rival schools don't usually have endearing nick names for their rival coaches. The point is Pitino has proven what he can do in college basketball. That doesn't mean I have to like him or that he's wonderful.

Step out of the Bearcat fan shoes and into Mick's to get a different perspective. Mick grew up on UC ball and his dad also went to UC and his dream job was to coach UC. I think it says a lot about Mick's charachter to do something he knew was unpopular at the time but had the guts to do it anyway.

R-A-T...I-O-N....:)

[Nerf]

I am trying to think of another occassion when an assist has left one program for another program in the same conference.



Larry Harrison left UC for Depaul.

A hundred times a day, some guy in middle-management at P&G, GE, etc. gets a call from a head hunter with job offer from the competition. If said "guy from middle management" feels "stuck" in his job, if his boss or bosses are 10-15 years from retirement, taking credit for his work, he considers the offer. If the guy has any ambition, and the opportunity looks like a move "up", he probably takes the job. It's effectively the same thing, except P&G doesn't have crowds standing around watching your every move, and GE doesn't have a forum where fans discuss HR's latest recruits.

[richard k.]

If Mick hadn't left, it would have been very difficult for him to ever land a D-1 coaching job. He attended UC, worked as a grad assistant there, and then an assistant coach. He needed to broaden his experience. Not only that, but Huggins did not have a very good track record of grooming assistants for head coaching jobs, unlike Pitino (Billy Donovan & Tubby Smith, for example).
Mick has stated clearly, that before he took Pitino's offer he talked to quite a number of people in the coaching profession, virtually all of whom told him that he had virtually no chance to get a head coaching position, including the UC head job, unless he moved. He had applied for several jobs during his last year or so at UC, and hadn't gotten any consideration whatsoever. Obviously his decision to take the job at UofL was the correct one, because shortly thereafter he got a head coaching job, and shortly thereafter he got the UC job. I'm not sure how you can argue with the results, or, considering the results, deprecate the decision.

[levydl]

I am trying to think of another occassion when an assist has left one program for another program in the same conference.

I'm not sure the forum archives go back to the summer of 2001 (I think that is when Cronin left). It would be interesting to read the discussion from back then. I can not remember a whole lot of Cronin supporters at that time. I definitely remember 13,000+ detractors when he walked back into the Shoe.

My wife and I have a little song we sing to one another on occasions like this - R-A-T . . . I-O-N . . . A-L-I-Z-E (it goes really well with the Mickey Mouse club tune).

It is interesting to hear how wonderful Pitino is. I seem to remember when Pitino's name on this forum was mud - actually, it was slick Rick and that was about the best that was said of him.

Finally, Jerry (and especially rALph) will want me to point out that Dan Peters left to take another assistant's position. And, while it was not to a conference rival, it was to our biggest in-state competitor for recruits (not sure you can really call them a rival when you only play 1x every 40 years). I think it is fair to say that Huggins didn't necessarily develop his assistants well during that period. However, AK and Frank Martin have done alright.

Go Cats!
DF

AK and Frank Martin did not get head coaching jobs by being Huggins' assistants in the way the process usually works.

AK got passed over for both the Louisiana Monroe and the Florida Atlantic jobs. He was able to prove himself as a head coach after Huggs left. Perhaps he would have landed a head job had he stayed under Bob for a couple more years, but it didn't seem likely.

Martin couldn't get an interview at one of those small colleges in Florida this past year. Obviously, he's KSU's coach because they wanted to keep Beasley and Sutton and the rest after Bob left.

Mick has said that one year when he was Bob's assistant the Ohio U. job opened up and he couldn't even get a phone interview. Huggins then told him he was taking the WVU job. Cronin said he didn't want to move to Morgantown and he didn't want to be a lifetime assistant. Pitino has an amazing head coaching family tree and he offered him a job. Mick said he thought he had a much better chance at a head job in the near future working under Pitino. 3 years later he was at Murray St.

I didn't like it when Mick left, but, for one, he thought he was going to be leaving anyway when Huggins went to WVU, and two it was the best way for him to get a head job. It's hard to begrudge him or to argue with the logic. I was pissed when he left and I was hyped when he came back.

[jon b]

I was pissed when he left and I was hyped when he came back.

That sums it up well for me. I'd love to know what I said in 2001!