Mick Cronin addresses candidacy for Indiana job amid hot board links

Friday night, UCLA knocked off Indiana in Bloomington. The game came on the backdrop of the Hoosiers’ coaching search, and Mick Cronin’s name has come up on some Hot Boards as a potential replacement for Mike Woodson.

Woodson is planning to step down after this season – his fourth as IU’s head coach. Multiple names have been floated as potential successors, although a big one took his name off the board when Brad Stevens told The Field of 68 he’s happy with the Boston Celtics.

After the game, Cronin addressed his potential candidacy for the job. Specifically, with regard to Hot Boards, he says he makes sure not to look at them. After all, he could easily see another place calling for him to be fired as UCLA head coach.

“Here’s how I look at that stuff,” Cronin said. “You might be on your Hot Boards, they might want my ass fired on our Hot Boards. That’s how I look at that. I stay off the Hot Boards. I’m just telling you, man. That’s just the way it is. You can go from one board to the other real quick – hiring, firing. You know what I’m saying?”

When asked what his message would be to UCLA fans who see him on the Hot Boards, Cronin pointed out some members of Bruin Nation could want him fired, as well. That’s why he said coaches have to “check your ego.”

“I would say, some people might be happy because some people are probably on boards wanting me fired,” Cronin said. “This is what you’ve got to understand – and I’m being dead serious. Your popularity rating when you’re a coach, you have to check your ego. They booed John Calipari at Kentucky. You know what he did there? They say, well, he’s the opposing coach. I mean, whatever. They wouldn’t have booed Bob Knight if he walked in here. I can promise you that. I can promise you. That’s just the way it is, man.

“So I’m well aware that I might be on a board for a job, but my board, somebody might want me to lose my job. And I know I’m laughing, but I’m being serious, man. We get our ass beat Tuesday, I think we play, go ahead and check our boards.”

As for the appeal of the Indiana job, Mick Cronin pointed to its history under the late Bob Knight and its status as a power program. He knows about what history can do for a program’s stature considering he walks the same sidelines John Wooden once did.

“Look, there’s Blue Blood jobs,” Cronin said. “People write these articles now. We haven’t won a title since ’95. It’s never gonna change. Like, the Yankees are always gonna be the Yankees. UCLA basketball, Indiana basketball’s always gonna be – it’s just the way it is. … They’re still the Hoosiers, man.”