Los Angeles

UCLA Hires Cincinnati's Mick Cronin As New Head Men's Basketball Coach

April 9, 2019 / 9:59 AM PDT / KCAL News

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Longtime University of Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin has been named as the new head men's basketball coach at UCLA.

The 47-year-old Cronin has been signed to a six-year, $24 million contract, UCLA reported Tuesday.

FILE -- Head coach Mike Cronin of the Cincinnati Bearcats gestures from the sidelines against the Georgetown Hoyas during the quarterfinals of the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero has been searching for a new head coach since Cronin's predecessor, Steve Alford, was fired back in December.

"I am incredibly humbled and honored to become the head coach at UCLA," Cronin said in a statement. "I'm especially grateful to Chancellor Block and to Dan Guerrero for this opportunity to join the Bruin Family. UCLA is a very special place with a strong tradition of excellence. To be able to join such a world-class institution is truly a privilege, and I can't wait to get started in Westwood."

Cronin has compiled a 365-171 record over 16 seasons as a head coach. He spent three seasons at Murray State before taking the reins at Cincinnati, where he has been for the past 13 seasons. Cronin has taken the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament the last nine straight seasons.

"Mick Cronin is a fierce competitor, and I'm excited to welcome him to Westwood," Guerrero said in a statement. "Mick has built a fantastic program at Cincinnati, backed by integrity and discipline, and he has instilled an undeniable toughness in his student-athletes. I am confident he will build this program the right way and lead UCLA basketball back to national prominence."

Cronin has a large challenge ahead of him turning around one of the most storied basketball programs in college history, which is coming off a mediocre 17-16 season in which it failed to make the tournament for the third time in the past eight seasons.

The team has been on a downhill trajectory since November 2017, when three of its players -- LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley -- were suspended for the entire season after being arrested on charges they shoplifted from a Louis Vuitton store while playing a game in Hangzhou, China, while on a team tour of Asia. It took the intervention of President Donald Trump to secure their release.

Both Hill and Riley returned to the team for the 2018-19 season, but Ball withdrew from the school.