Record at Cincinnati: 87-77 (.530) entering sixth season Career Record: 156-101 (.607) entering ninth season
Since taking the reins of the University of Cincinnati men's basketball program in late March 2006, Mick Cronin has been busy assembling his program piece by piece from the ground up: stressing the importance of academic success, collecting talented recruits, and increasing the Bearcats victory total every season.
After a 2010-11 campaign that saw the Bearcats advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons; record their highest win total (26) since the 2002 campaign; achieve their most BIG EAST Conference wins (11) in school history; secure an incoming recruiting class tabbed among the Top 25 in the nation; and receive the prestigious "Public Recognition Award" for their outstanding Academic Progress Rate, followers should be eager for the future of UC basketball.
Over Cronin's five years at Cincinnati, the team has shown improvement each step of the way, becoming the only program in the nation to increase its overall win total each season (11 in 2006-07, 13 in 2007-08, 18 in 2008-09, 19 in 2009-10 and 26 in 2010-11).
Cronin guided the Bearcats to its third consecutive winning season a year ago, defeating Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national champion, Connecticut. Cronin was rewarded in spring 2011 with a new contract that will keep him at UC through the 2016-17 season.
To retool a program in five years and make the climb up the standings in one of the nation's deepest and most competitive basketball conferences, you have to make things happen quickly, people need to take personal responsibility, and the small details must be covered. Those core attributes describe Cronin, a native of the Queen City and graduate of the University of Cincinnati (1997).
For Cronin, the idea of becoming the UC head coach started when he was just a child following his father, Hep, a highly successful local high school coach, around the gyms of Cincinnati. A product of LaSalle High School, Mick Cronin had his coaching career start sooner than expected when a promising playing career ended due to a knee injury in high school.
That did not stop his desire to find his place in basketball. He punched his own ticket coaching varsity and junior varsity high school basketball, spending time as a video coordinator, and then as an assistant coach for the likes of Rick Pitino and Bob Huggins. His hard work and dedication made him one of the nation's top recruiters and one of the most highly sought after coaches when he accepted his first head coaching position in 2003 at Murray State University.
Cronin honed his skills as a head coach for three years at Murray State, compiling a 69-24 record and earning a pair of berths to the NCAA tournament. In his debut season as head coach, Cronin directed the Racers to a school-best 28-6 record, the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship, and an NCAA tournament appearance. His 28 wins are the sixth most in NCAA history for a first-year head coach.
Before coming to Cincinnati, Cronin led Murray State to another OVC crown with a 24-6 overall record and 17-3 conference mark in 2005-06. The Racers laid claim to their second NCAA tournament appearance in three years as they won the conference tournament and earned Cronin OVC Coach of the Year honors.
In 12 short years as an assistant and head coach, Cronin has built a reputation for his ability to evaluate and recruit top talent.
In his stint at UC as an assistant coach from 1997-2001, Cronin made an immediate impact by recruiting several top players, including Steve Logan, a two-time Conference USA Player of the Year and possibly one of the five greatest players in the program's history. Besides Logan, who was drafted by the NBA's Golden State Warriors, four other Bearcats standouts went on to be selected in the NBA Draft during his time -- DerMarr Johnson, Parade Magazine National Prep Player of the Year and C-USA Freshman of the Year (Atlanta); Pete Mickeal, a junior college national Player of the Year selection (Dallas); Kenny Satterfield, a McDonald's All-American (Dallas); and Jason Maxiell (Detroit). Those players helped build a recruiting base that included two top 5- and a top 10-rated classes over his final three seasons.
His work as a coach and recruiter paid dividends for Cincinnati as it compiled a 108-26 record, five C-USA regular-season titles, and a pair of tournament crowns. Following the 2000-01 season, Cronin was offered the opportunity to coach and gain new experiences with another of college basketball's greats, Rick Pitino, as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Louisville.
In his very first year, he helped attract a top-10 recruiting class, including Francisco Garcia, who went on to earn C-USA Freshman of the Year in 2003 and eventually was drafted by Sacramento. Cronin quicky drew attention from several national sports publications. He was rated as the top assistant coach in the nation in 2002-03 by Athlon and the top assistant in Conference USA by Lindy's. That same year, The Sporting News named him the top recruiting assistant in the nation and the top assistant in C-USA.
While completing his undergraduate degree at UC, Cronin served as assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach at Woodward High. He compiled a 57-3 record as junior varsity mentor and helped the varsity claim three city championships. He helped develop six players who went on to play Division I college basketball, including former Bearcat Damon Flint, UC's 19th all-time leading scorer (1,316 points).
Cronin made the jump from high school to college coaching during the 1996-97 season, serving as the Bearcats' video coordinator.
Mick is the second generation of the Cronin family in the coaching ranks. His father compiled more than 400 victories in his high school coaching career and is recently retired from being a Major League Baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves.
Mick Cronin resides in Cincinnati with his four-year old daughter, Samantha.
