Mick Cronin Defends Hard-Nosed Coaching Style

Nonetheless, Cronin isn’t ready to change his ways anytime soon. On a recent episode of Wake Up Barstool, Cronin explained why he coaches in such an imposing manner and how he believes it could help college athletes later on in life. 

Cronin Defends Style

• “What’s shifted is what people decide to cover,” Cronin said, regarding the amount of publicity that his outbursts generate. “What the clickbait people want to try and jump on that really need to get a life, man. I mean, let’s just be honest. Look, little Johnny needs to learn how to pay attention and follow orders, okay? And if I tell him 50 straight times the same thing, I'm going to lose my mind if he keeps doing it wrong. I mean, come on, man.”

• “It’s not okay not to try hard or not to listen,” Cronin added. “Look, you’re going to lose your job someday, real quickly. If you get in the NBA, and you get into a training camp — or they send you to Europe — you think those guys are messing around that are drinking vodka coaching their team in Europe?"

• "They’re smoking a cigarette, they’re drinking vodka, and they’re sending your ass home quick. You’re gone, your a** is on the plane. You’ve got to teach these guys accountability. You can’t just keep transferring high schools, and transferring AAU teams if you don’t like how the coach talks to you, you’re going to get fired.”

Now, Cronin will focus his efforts on finding guys that will fit his rigid system for next season and beyond. The team fell flat in the Round of 32 this season against UConn, and Cronin and his staff will work to find quality players that can get UCLA back to where they want to be. However, Cronin's coaching style is unlikely to change.