5. Mick Cronin (UCLA)
Things haven’t always gone according to plan but Cronin has been fantastic throughout his coaching career. He was a great asset under Bob Huggins and Rick Pitino as an assistant before building success as head coach at Murray State. Cronin took Cincinnati to nine straight NCAA Tournaments before leaving in 2019 for UCLA, with those Bearcats failing to get back to the Big Dance since his departure.
After postseason struggles with the Bearcats, Cronin had his breakthrough quite quickly at UCLA, taking the Bruins to the Final Four in 2021. He followed that up with two trips to the Sweet Sixteen and has finished Top 6 in each of UCLA’s first two seasons in the Big Ten. Overall, Cronin is 47-23 since the Bruins joined the conference and has won more than 160 games total in Westwood.
He’s been a constant winner who puts players in successful positions. You could argue that UCLA has underwhelmed at times especially over the last half decade but they’ve clearly made the smoothest transition among the newest members of the Big Ten. Cronin wasn’t exactly UCLA’s first choice back in 2019 but a coach of his caliber has done pretty well in town.
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