LOS ANGELES — Mick Cronin doesn’t read comments, whether it’s backlash to his travel complaints, opinions about his system or praise about his honest nature.
“I got better things to do with my time than read stuff like that,” he said Jan. 23.
But the reactions to his recent antics caught his attention. After ejecting his own player, Steven Jamerson II, and engaging in a back-and-forth with a Michigan State reporter Tuesday resulted in the embarrassment of UCLA’s image on a national level, the coach who demands accountability made an effort to own his mistakes.
He walked into Friday’s media availability and instantly lamented.
“The last thing I want to do is bring negative publicity to our school,” Cronin said. “I need to do a better job of knowing, ‘Well, I am the coach here, and I need to make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass our school.’ So for that, I apologize. That, I don’t want. I apologize to our people – school, students, you know, everybody in our community – because it’s important. In these jobs, you got to raise money. You got to be friends with donors. I mean, I believe in all that stuff. I’m trying to protect our brand. I don’t want our guys taking some guy out while he’s in the air, down 25. That’s bush league, but not what happened. But the same goes for me. I got to make sure that I represent us in the right way,”
Unprompted by a question, Cronin expressed remorse for how he treated Jamerson and disparaged the program. He complimented the UCLA senior, saying he’s “everything that’s good about college basketball.” He admitted misjudging the severity of Jamerson’s foul. He showed respect to the place UCLA men’s basketball holds in college basketball history, ensuring he understands he’s “not bigger than the brand.” He also cracked jokes, offered analogies and shared stories to deflect from the tension.
It was a four-and-half-minute, uninterrupted soliloquy. Cronin has long toed the line of humor and impudence, appearing in social media clips all season. Tuesday’s offenses apparently crossed a line.
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As UCLA trailed No. 15 Michigan State by 27 with 4:26 remaining, Jamerson sprinted back on defense and committed a hard foul to prevent Michigan State center Carson Cooper’s breakaway dunk, before the two players went face to face. Cronin opted to teach Jamerson a lesson, banishing him to UCLA’s locker room.
Cronin didn’t stop there. Following the 82-59 loss, he insulted a Michigan State reporter, engaging in a back-and-forth about the stupidity of a question about the Spartans’ student section.
His actions rang bells across the nation, appearing on platforms such as the “Rich Eisen Show” and ESPN, with few taking his side. Cronin’s antics garnered attention UCLA hasn’t warranted since its 2021 Final Four run. Because of him, a program regarded for winning with class, remembered for the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and coach John Wooden and his pyramid of excellence, was scorned.
Cronin felt that pressure. He weighed the effect it might have on valued donors, alums, future players and his job status. And he responded as any rational human would.
“The brand is important to me. I need to dial back some of my humor, so I apologize,” he said.
“I’m a good fit here,” he added. “Because here you’re not the story. You’re never going to be the best coach.”
Yet for 24 hours, his words wrote headlines. He brought shame to a historic program. He embarrassed a player who’s known as a consummate teammate. So that apology wasn’t solely to protect his own image. It was an attempt to remind his players that “nobody’s got their back more than me.” It was to retain a locker room amid a crucial stretch in UCLA’s season.
Now the players must decipher his words how they choose.
“He’s always got our back,” UCLA senior Skyy Clark said.
Clark explained he’s had to learn to “listen to the message and not how it’s being conveyed.” Cronin’s brash coaching style, Clark said, is a result of learning under mentors such as Rick Pitino and Bob Huggins. Those who agree with his methods “aren’t around him every day” and “don’t see the full him,” Clark emphasized.
But Tuesday’s actions were also part of that entire Cronin package, indicative of his true colors.
“I don’t think, to be honest, the entire world has ever seen that during a game,” Perry said of Cronin throwing out Jamerson. “But you know it happened, and I’m just glad we’re able to move forward.”
Clark and Perry said Cronin addressed the team, issuing an apology to Jamerson. Perry, Jamerson’s roommate, further checked in on him.
“I don’t think anybody has ever experienced that before,” Perry said. “So, I mean, just making sure my teammate knows that I have his back and everybody else has his back.”
More so, Clark and the rest of UCLA’s seniors called a players-only meeting following the Michigan State game, and intend to hold another one Friday.
“We’re all just saying, ‘stay together,” Clark said. “We’re going to figure this out. Season’s not over with yet. Still got some really big games coming up that we can get. We just got to stay together.”
The Bruins understand the stakes. They know UCLA (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) is teetering on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a juggernaut in No. 10 Illinois (22-5, 13-3) coming to Westwood on Saturday intent on knocking them further from postseason contention.
The Illini’s offense (131.9 points per 100 possessions) is the best KenPom’s rankings have ever tracked. They might even be better than that because freshman phenom Keaton Wagler wasn’t running the offense for the first 10 games.
The Bruins’ defense has fallen out of KenPom’s top 50, and after blowout losses to Michigan and Michigan State by a combined 53 points, there’s not much reason for thinking Saturday’s game won’t match Illinois’ dominant 101-65 victory at USC on Wednesday.
“They’re as good as, arguably, anybody in the country,” Cronin said.
Illinois’ combination of offensive efficiency and rebounding ability presents a matchup unlike any UCLA has faced this season. Add the distraction of national storylines, and it further increases the challenge.