Mick Cronin highlights why he took UCLA job, what transfer portal took away

UCLA and USC may be rivals, but Bruins coach Mick Cronin has no problem admitting that Trojans coach Eric Musselman took over a difficult situation.

Cronin was hired as the UCLA head coach ahead of the 2020 season, in part because of the talent the Bruins had coming back. He made the most of that talent, reaching the Final Four in only his second season as the UCLA head coach.

Mick Cronin recently revealed that the talent he was inheriting played a big role in him accepting the UCLA job.

“I got the UCLA job and part of the reason I took it was we played,” Mick Cronin said. “So I knew, look, they’ve got all these guys, Jules Bernard, David Singleton, Cody Riley, Tyger [Campbell] was sitting out. They signed Jaime [Jaquez], who I tried to recruit. Everybody was back. I signed nobody. I got the UCLA job and didn’t sign a player. Nobody transferred, pre-portal.”

Mick Cronin played UCLA during the 2018-19 season when he was at Cincinnati. His Bearcats handled the Bruins easily, but Cronin still saw the potential for where the program was headed.

That is, of course, much different from the situation Eric Musselman took over at USC. When he came over from Arkansas, practically the entire USC team left and entered the transfer portal, leaving him with most of a roster to fill.

Despite that, Musselman is off to a 12-8 (4-5) start to the season. USC dropped a close game to UCLA on Monday, falling 82-76 at home.

Still, overall, Mick Cronin is very impressed with what Musselman has done in Year 1 at USC.

“I think he’s done a great job,” Mick Cronin said. “Coach Musselman gets the job and everybody’s gone, except Harrison Hornery, who’s smart enough to get a USC degree, or maybe two. I mean imagine you’ve gotta get an entire new team. It’s crazy.

“So I think they’re having a hell of a year for the situation. And you get thrust into that situation. I mean it’s just the way it is now. You take a job now, you can expect the entire team is going to leave.”

USC is off to a solid start to the year, despite being down two of its top six players in Matt Knowling and Terrance Williams. Knowling missed his eighth game of the season against UCLA, while Williams missed his 13th.

Musselman is unsure when they will be able to return to action.

“It’s frustrating, you know,” Eric Musselman said. “Two guys that are – one guy’s your sixth-man out of the gate and the other guy’s your starter. And we’re already [thin]… so it’s frustrating, you know. But you know, they had one guy out, too, so I’m sure we’ll hear about that.”