For the first time since being gut-punched with that appalling announcement—“Steve Alford has been hired as the next head coach of the UCLA men’s basketball program”—I am excited to see what’s over the horizon for the Bruins’ flagship program.
The ship’s new captain Mick Cronin is a steady, fundamentally sound skipper with a talent for recruiting quality athletes when he did not have the world to offer them. Imagine what he can do at UCLA. His values are right for Westwood. He has fought in the battles; his seamanship is established, and a bluff course into the weather gauge will be set.