Steve Alford was fired in early January just prior to Pac-12 conference play, and the Bruins had Murray Bartow handle the team on an interim basis. The Bruins went 10-10 under Bartow, losing in the second round of the conference tournament. Since the end of the season, UCLA AD Dan Guerrero and his search committee have struck out on hiring a coach until they pulled the trigger and hired University of Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin. He received a six year $24 million dollar deal. They had been rejected by John Calipari of Kentucky, and Calipari parlayed that into a lifetime contract with the Wildcats.They then pursued TCU Head coach Jamie Dixon, who is a disciple of former UCLA head coach Ben Howland, and had a great run with the Bruins. In Howland’s last season at UCLA, his team won the Pac-12 regular season title. They were blown out in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and shortly after that, he was fired. The fans did not like his slow methodical offense even though in his final season he went to more of an uptempo style. Howland had a 233-107 mark with the Bruins, which included a .685 winning percentage, three Final Fours, and a Championship appearance.The UCLA donors wanted Alford out, and hiring Jamie Dixon made no sense to me. Dixon had an $8 million dollar buyout at TCU, which was too much for UCLA to handle. Afterward, they went after Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who will be 65 years old by the time next season starts. Barnes turned the Bruins down as well, and then worked out a new contract with the Volunteers. I have been following UCLA basketball since the days of Lew Alcindor, Sidney Wicks, and Bill Walton, and I cannot believe how difficult it was for the Bruins to find a head coach for this legendary program.Good luck to Mick Cronin in following in John Wooden’s footsteps!Have a great week to all of our 97.3 The Fan listeners. Coach Kentera
Twitter@coachkentera44
