University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach Mick Cronin was born in that Ohio River city and has spent most of his 44 years in the area.
Cronin played basketball for his father Hep, a legendary prep coach at La Salle High. He was a 5-7 all-city guard as a junior who led the city in assists before his playing career ended prematurely with a knee injury near the end of that season. A lifelong University of Cincinnati fan like his father, who was a practice player on the Bearcats' 1961 and 1962 national championship teams, Cronin attended college there and followed in his father's footsteps after he was offered a freshman and junior varsity coaching job at Woodward High as a 19-year old.
That was the beginning of a fast-track journey that included working as an video coordinator and assistant under the highly successful Bob Huggins at UC, where he built a reputation as a strong talent evaluator who recruited five NBA prospects -- Steve Logan, DerMarr Johnson, Pete Mickeal, Kenny Satterfield and Jason Maxiell -- then becoming the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator under Hall of Famer Rick Pitino at Louisville. Cronin’s impressive resume led to a coaching offer from Murray State, where he led the Ohio Valley Conference’s Racers to two NCAA appearances in three years. In 2006, Cronin returned to his alma mater as head coach and promptly stabilized the program. His Bearcats are 207-129 in 10 years and have made NCAA appearances in each of the last six seasons, finishing 22-11 last season.
Cronin once said he was “the only guy who has an agent that doesn't need one. I have no interest in other jobs. The only job I have an interest in is the Cincinnati job.”
But last spring, rumors began to swirl that he was being targeted by UNLV. When Cronin discovered through his agent that the rumors were true, he was intrigued enough to visit the school and the troubled Rebels, who had slipped off the national landscape and offered him a multi-year contract to re-establish their brand.
Cronin was in the second year of a contract extension that has him at Cincinnati through the end of the 2020-21 season. But money wasn't the primary issue in this decision. Cronin has long wanted upgrades to Cincinnati’s facilities, including Fifth Third Arena, where the Bearcats play.
The arena is scheduled to undergo an $87 million renovation that is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018, a year later than originally planned. He also wanted more money for recruiting and a chartered plane for recruiting trips.
“You know, you spend 10 years at a place. I was being told by everybody, 'Sometimes you can stay too long,’” Cronin said. “You hear that and you start to wonder. It was important for me to get our arena done and we were trying to get some support for basketball. Our athletic department has really been elevated for the past 60 years because of basketball -- Oscar Robertson, the national championships, Coach (Ed) Junker, Coach (Bob) Huggins -- and it's an honor to be part of it. With all of the expansion talk, it was important I speak up for basketball. I had been through a lot with basketball and rebuilt the program while my school was trying to get into a conference for football.
“It was a healthy exercise for me, going to another school, talking to them, trying to envision being somewhere else. Now, I've been through it I'm beyond it.”
In the end, Cronin realized there's no place like home, coaching your alma mater when it is on the verge of a special season. The Bearcats have been selected as the favorite to win the American Athletic Conference regular-season title in a vote of the conference's head coaches, ahead of an improved UConn club.
Cronin is excited about the improving competition in The American.
“I look at our league in basketball. Last year, we got four of our 11 teams-- Connecticut, Temple, Tulsa and ourselves -- in the NCAA tournament and we could have had five if SMU had been eligible,” he said. “Houston played in the NIT. We're a young league and we’ve got some committed schools. The other (schools) are only going to try to catch up. They get more support and they hire coaches like Johnny Dawkins at UCF and Kelvin Sampson at Houston. Now we’ve got the great Tubby Smith at Memphis. Cincinnati and Connecticut have won national championships. Memphis, Temple, SMU have been to the Final Four, Tulsa has great basketball tradition.
“Now, with our arena being built, Houston's new arena being built, from a basketball standpoint, we're in great shape.”
This Bearcats team has the talent to seriously contend nationally.
Guard Troy Caupain, a 6-4 senior who was ranked among the league leaders in scoring, assist-to-turnover ratio, assists, minutes played, free throw percentage and steals was selected as the American's Preseason Player of the Year and is one of two UC players, who was selected to the American's preseason all-conference team.
Sophomore guard Jacob Evans III, who scored 26 points in UC's 78-76 NCAA opening round loss to Saint Joseph's, is listed on the Jerry West Watch List. Freshman Jarron Cumberland, a 6-5 guard from Wilmington, Ohio, was the runner up in the Mr. Ohio voting. And forward Kyle Washington, a 6-9 junior transfer from North Carolina State, has a chance to become a breakout star.
Past successful Cronin-coached UC teams relied heavily on defense, finishing in the top 25 in points allowed each of the last four seasons. But this year's Bearcat team is also loaded with athletic 3-point shooters at every position.
“Troy is possibly the best guard in our league,” Cronin said. “When you got that guy, you're in business. Jacob Evans is a guy every pro scout has been here to see. He's 6-6. He can put it on the floor, make shots. Kevin Johnson is a senior who really knows how to play. And you got Jarron Cumberland coming in and he's a top-60 kid who can really shoot it.
“But the difference is this year is we have frontcourt players who can also make 3s. We have guys like Kyle Washington and Gary Clark who are hybrid bigs who can both shoot it and are just as comfortable facing up as they are posting up.”
Cronin has changed his philosophy to fit an ever-evolving game that is becoming more and more influenced by the 3- point shot.
“You've got to shoot the 3, got to spread the floor,” he said. “We're probably going to start five guys who can make the 3. With no five-second (violation) on the dribbler, that can open the door for a lot of things. Look at Steph Curry and all the European teams that can shoot the ball. Every pro scout that comes through here, they don't want to talk to anybody if he's a non-shooter unless he's a seven-footer.
“The way the game is going, we spent all our off season on shooting and individual development. If you look at all the upsets, it's mid-major teams who can spread the floor and really, really shoot. It makes all the high major teams confused. They don't know what to do. Look at VCU, they shot 20 percent from behind the three point line in the regular season and 40 in the tournament. The year they went to Final Four, they just buried 3s against Kansas in the regional finals. And I think that's where our game is going.
“Recruiting wise, we're trying to go that way because I'm a big fan of the Warriors. We watch those guys every day on film as far as their spacing and passing, their sharing of the ball and the effectiveness of screening when you got guys like Kevin Durant and Steph Curry screening, causing mismatches. You can spread the floor all you want but the defense doesn't stretch unless you shoot it. And we can make shots.
“The key for us is making sure we keep defending at the same level.”
Cincinnati averaged 73.3 points and limited their opponents to a stingy 63 last season. But the Bearcats only shot 43 percent from the field and 34 from outside the arc. Those numbers should change dramatically this season. “The 3 opens up floor more,'' Clark said. "Last year, we had guys on low block who couldn't really shoot it that well. This year, we have athletes at every position who can cause a lot of mismatches when we beat teams down the floor.”
“Right now,” Caupain added, “we haven't put any plays in, but I'm sure coach has something good planned for the shooters. It's tough to guard bigs when they can both shoot and drive. The paint isn't going to be as clogged as it was last year.”
The Bearcats will be tested early in a four-team tournament Nov. 19 and 20 at the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut, where UC will play Rhode Island in its opening game with a possible meeting against top-ranked Duke on the second day.
Cronin knows that the Bearcats will get everyone's best shot in the league because of their profile.
But he seems at peace with his decision to continue a proud tradition in a town he loves.