SuperFlyBCat
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Give em hell Mick
Outspoken Cronin rips conference realignment again
UC Athletics Blog
Outspoken Cronin rips conference realignment again
03/14/13 at 4:26pm by Bill Koch 1 Comments
CroninNew
Perhaps no Big East coach has been as outspoken at UC’s Mick Cronin about the demise of the Big East Conference.
Cronin has pulled no punches this season whenever he has been asked about it and he fired away again Thursday in his postgame press conference after the Bearcats lost to Georgetown, 62-43.
“The whole thing is tragic,” Cronin said. “Nobody cares about student-athletes. All anybody cares about is money. Everybody in the NCAA, in college administration, they talk about academics and student-athletes. If people cared about student-athletes, West Virginia wouldn’t be in the Big 12 with ten teams flying 800 miles to their closest road game. That’s really conducive to studying.
“But I’m part of it. I love doing what I do because I get to coach basketball, but I get to help these guys grow up and hopefully become better men, have a better chance in life. But the money has ruined it. If I was a fan, I’d be very disenchanted.”
When a reporter suggested that coaches’ high salaries were part of the problem, Cronin fired again.
“I wouldn’t put it on the coaches,” he said. “When I started coaching, I made $800 a month and drove 12 kids in the back of car with no grill every day. That’s not why I got into coaching.
“I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams.
“The problem is that there’s not enough money for women’s sports and Olympic sports…the economy has trickled down. The states give less money to universities. Universities give less money to athletics. So everybody’s just, well, let’s change leagues because we can solve our money problems.
“And the people that suffer are the student-athletes. They’re the ones that suffer. And the fans…The fact that we’re sitting here and this is the last Big East tournament is ridiculous. This is the greatest tradition in college athletics, this tournament at one site for over 30-something years.
“It’s only gone for one reason, money. But other people sit around and say it’s about student-athletes and the student-athlete experience. Last year when we were told we had to bus home from Nashville and lose an hour and get home at 6:30 in the morning and yet we had to miss class and be on time for that press conference for the Sweet 16. I’m sure everybody was worried about my guys’ academics right then… I will take offense to anybody talking about coaches because every coach I know got started making peanuts.
“….there’s no question players are being exploited. Football and basketball players are being exploited, there’s no question about it. ”
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03-14-2013 04:15 PM |
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Coopdaddy67
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Are all of UC's committed prospects 100% locked down or is there a chance (however small it is) that they'll reevaluate things after the Big East/C7 official breakup?
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03-14-2013 04:19 PM |
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SuperFlyBCat
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-14-2013 04:19 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote: Are all of UC's committed prospects 100% locked down or is there a chance (however small it is) that they'll reevaluate things after the Big East/C7 official breakup?
3/5 have signed. Lawrence and Moorman sign in a month.
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03-14-2013 04:22 PM |
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BearcatShane09
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Coop there could be something to what you're saying but most of these prospects don't even know what realignment is.
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03-14-2013 04:23 PM |
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Overrated
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Pretty sure Moreman is signed. Although he isn't certain to qualify. Lawrence can't signed till April.
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03-14-2013 04:50 PM |
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cinbinsportsfan
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RE: Give em hell Mick
“I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
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03-14-2013 06:42 PM |
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apoe
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-14-2013 06:42 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: “I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
I might be wrong but I thought that was the main use of the tipoff club funds. Not going to get any easier if UC is forced to stay in conference DOA
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03-14-2013 07:09 PM |
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subflea
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-14-2013 06:42 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: “I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
His first few years they were flying commercial to all away games. Now they have chartered flights due to the extra money he raises from donors.
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03-14-2013 08:37 PM |
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rath v2.0
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Yet the mensa card carrying members of this fanbase thought UC was on a level playing field when it came to facilities et al when Mick got here.
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03-14-2013 09:03 PM |
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Captain Bearcat
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Cry me a river. It IS coaching salaries.
The extra money is all going to coaching salaries, and the system is set up that way. It's simple economics.
Having the best coaches in fball/bball is what drives the revenue bus for each school. So every school bids on the best coaches. The problem is that the pie doesn't get bigger just because every school pays their coach more. The revenue for all d-1 schools is completely independent of coaching salaries. But since it's in each school's individual interest to get the best coach and keep their revenue up, the whole system screws over the non-revenue sports.
The only way around this conundrum would be if there was some sort of collusion on the part of the top schools in the food chain regarding coaching salaries. Such collusion would definitely be in the student-athletes' best interest, but it would probably be illegal.
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03-14-2013 09:07 PM |
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DashRiprock
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-14-2013 09:03 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: Yet the mensa card carrying members of this fanbase thought UC was on a level playing field when it came to facilities et al when Mick got here.
Cronin raises some great and noble points...and mostly dead on. Of course, as long as he is making his $1.5 Million or so...he is also part of the "system". I certainly don't blame him for collecting the market rate (and some would suggest his comparative "home town bargain" salary). It would seem more appropriate that college/university presidents would be making these points loudly instead. Afterall, they are the ones who are supposed to be the spokespeople for all that is "good" about higher education.
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03-14-2013 09:13 PM |
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cinbinsportsfan
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-14-2013 08:37 PM)subflea Wrote: (03-14-2013 06:42 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: “I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
His first few years they were flying commercial to all away games. Now they have chartered flights due to the extra money he raises from donors.
Right I knew that but is the $250,000 he's referring to just through the Tip-Off club or a more grassroots campaign by him?
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03-15-2013 07:39 AM |
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GameTime_21
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-15-2013 07:39 AM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: (03-14-2013 08:37 PM)subflea Wrote: (03-14-2013 06:42 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: “I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
His first few years they were flying commercial to all away games. Now they have chartered flights due to the extra money he raises from donors.
Right I knew that but is the $250,000 he's referring to just through the Tip-Off club or a more grassroots campaign by him?
Both...
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03-15-2013 07:54 AM |
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ThinkBigPine
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RE: Give em hell Mick
wow I was reading some of the comments for this story on enquirer.com people have no clue what is going on. There is a lot of hate towards Mick in those comments, a lot of support too which is nice.
(This post was last modified: 03-15-2013 08:48 AM by ThinkBigPine.)
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03-15-2013 08:33 AM |
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bearcatmill
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-15-2013 08:33 AM)ThinkBigPine Wrote: wow I was reading some of the comments for this story on enquirer.com people have no clue what is going on. There is a lot of hate towards Mick in those comments, a lot of support too which is nice.
Most of them are disgruntled Eggs and osu fans. They are all over him regardless of what comes out of his mouth. Same goes for Tuberville or any other coach at UC.
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03-15-2013 11:06 AM |
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cinbinsportsfan
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RE: Give em hell Mick
(03-15-2013 07:54 AM)GameTime_21 Wrote: (03-15-2013 07:39 AM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: (03-14-2013 08:37 PM)subflea Wrote: (03-14-2013 06:42 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: “I work 12 months a year. I have to raise $250,000 a year to run our program at the highest level so we can travel like other teams."
REALLY?! Wow.
His first few years they were flying commercial to all away games. Now they have chartered flights due to the extra money he raises from donors.
Right I knew that but is the $250,000 he's referring to just through the Tip-Off club or a more grassroots campaign by him?
Both...
Gotcha. Hopefully it's been more of the former than the latter of late.
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03-15-2013 11:37 AM |
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Bruce Monnin
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RE: Give em hell Mick
Is it just me or does this article make no sense? To summarize:
Mick says schools only care about money, not about student athletes (duh).
Mick's $1.5 million salary is not part of the problem, after all he works all 12 months of the year.
While the schools should worry less about money and more about student athletes, it would be good if the school/state/feds would provide another quarter million dollars so the basketball team can flight charter instead of commercial like all the other sports.
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03-16-2013 01:42 PM |
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