Letters: Mick Cronin is a great coach who gets | College News
Mick Cronin is the youngest lively coach to succeed in 500 victories. In his short time as UCLA’s head basketball coach, he has guided the group to at least one Final Four and two Sweet 16 appearances.
This season’s group at the moment has 20 wins and is within the high 5 within the aggressive Big 10 Conference standings.
But that’s not enough for Bill Plaschke, who feels Cronin is too robust on his gamers when he calls them out in public. He’s robust on them as a result of (a) this is and has at all times been his fashion, and (b) it gets outcomes. Slightly over 50 years in the past, a UCLA coach calmly informed his star, two-time All-American heart that if he didn’t get his hair cut and shave his beard that the group would miss him that season. News of this occurring at this time would ship Plaschke off on a tirade, I’m sure. But the participant heeded his coach’s phrases, bought the haircut and shave, and the coach and participant — John Wooden and Bill Walton — went on to take pleasure in a great season and, more importantly, a implausible, lifelong relationship.
Mick Cronin is not John Wooden. Nobody expects him to be. But he’s a great coach, a confirmed winner, trainer, and chief. Shouldn’t that be enough?
Steve Kaye
Oro Valley, Ariz.
I admire Bill Plaschke, however his latest Cronin piece simply missed. Coach Cronin isn’t right here to win a recognition contest — he’s right here to win basketball video games and construct males of character. And guess what? He does each. Sure, he’s fiery. Sure, he’s robust. But final I checked, John Wooden’s pyramid didn’t embrace “make everyone feel warm and fuzzy.”
Cronin’s monitor document speaks for itself — he’s constructed winners at Murray State, Cincinnati and, now, UCLA utilizing the identical relentless, defense-first fashion. His gamers don’t simply go away as higher athletes and basketball gamers; they go away as more durable, more disciplined younger males prepared for all times past the courtroom.
David Manheim
Los Angeles
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