Cincinnati Basketball: 5 coaching replacements for Mick Cronin

2. Darren Savino (Cincinnati associate head coach)

Savino has been an assistant with the Bearcats since 2010 and would certainly be the best move if they want to promote from within. Savino is a great recruiter who’s yet to get his shot running a program as head coach. His recruiting ties in New York make it seem like a longshot that he’d follow Cronin to UCLA, but there will be many options available for a talented coach like him.

Savino’s coaching career has seen him bounce around to schools like St. John’s, East Carolina, New Mexico, and Quinnipiac. He spent two seasons under Cronin at Murray State and four years as the top assistant at Rutgers under Fred Hill. His arrival at Cincinnati coincided with the start of the Bearcats’ run of NCAA Tournament bids, and he certainly helped elevated the team’s recruiting in these last nine seasons.

Promoting Savino to head coach would go a long way to shoring up next season’s recruiting class, as many of the recruits have ties to him. It’s no longer a surprise for recruits to drop their commitments after a coaching change, but hiring Savino would go a long way to assuring continuity. Ohio’s Mr. Basketball Samari Curtis is a highly-touted recruit for the Bearcats that the next head coach will have to effectively re-recruit to the team, something that wouldn’t be too difficult for Savino.

The concern for Savino is his lack of head coaching experience, but he certainly has plenty of experience on the bench. Fans of the Bearcats may not be pleased with promoting an assistant when this current coaching staff couldn’t win Tournament games, but hiring Savino would solidify recruiting for the immediate future. Whether he’s the best coach for the job remains to be seen, but Savino certainly could’ve gotten another head coaching job if he wanted it by now. He could follow Cronin to the west coast or he could lead the Bearcats to the Promised Land.