UCLA Basketball has been on a length search. Who are the top candidates to look for now?
The UCLA Basketball job for years was one of the top jobs in the country to get. They were always able to land top prospects, and many have gone on to be very successful in the NBA. Some of those are Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. Now they are a middle of the road to a bottom feeder in the Pac-12. Does this job still have the same pull that it used to? In short yes it does, but in order to fix the program, they need to find the right coach to alter the direction Steve Alford put them in.
Enter Jamie Dixon and Mick Cronin. Both of these guys have been successful at their current schools, Cronin leading his Cincinnati team into the tournament the last two years, and winning the AAC both years as well. While Jamie Dixon made his TCU a nuisance in the Big 12. Although this year was down for Dixon much of that was due to injuries to key players. Dixon was also very successful at Pitt making them a force to be reckoned with in the Big East and ACC prior to him leaving.
Cronin runs his program very differently than UCLA is used to. He is very defensive minded, as I believe if he won a game 1-0 on a free throw he might be happy with that. He is not a top recruiter he takes from the middle of the pack, and will occasionally find a star like he had this season in Jarron Cumberland. He also seems to have an issue with the media as he is not to friendly with them, which could lead to some issues considering he would then be coaching a team from L.A. in UCLA.
Dixon has produced some NBA talent along the way with someone like Steven Adams who has been a great big for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But, he also is just the average recruiter. He would rather take the 3-star player and make them into a 4-star than find a 4-star and only have him for 2 years. It has worked for Jamie and I believe it will at any school, look at Michigan State for example they get the occasional All-American with Miles Bridges, but get those guys that want to hang around and get better. The only drawback to that approach is that the Michigan State fanbase outside of Michigan is not very large.
Either coach that UCLA goes with I think will have to get their fans going. That might take signing a top-25 player, and California is a hot spot for recruits, and the Bruins does have the draw, but would they be willing to go off the beat and path. I like both Cronin and Dixon, but I am not sure that their styles would match very well with the UCLA fans. Both of them are defensive minded, which could lead to a boring game for a team that usually scored in the 80s. They both do not recruit big name prospects as that is not how they build their program, and what fan wouldn’t want a chance to see someone like James Wiseman the No. 1 recruit this year according to ESPN.
Those two are the front-runners for the job, but I wonder is someone like Erik Musselman from Nevada or Lorenzo Romar might get an interview as well. As good of coaches that Dixon and Cronin are I am not sure that they fit the UCLA theme. At this point however, I would think that the job is Dixon’s to lose assuming he can get the buyout from TCU.