It wasn't about money. It wasn't about job titles.Mick Cronin said his move from assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Cincinnati to associate head coach at Louisville was simply a great opportunity to work with Rick Pitino, “who's arguably one of the top coaches in modern basketball.”

Mick Cronin at news conference. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “Not many guys my age will have worked for a guy like (UC coach) Bob Huggins and Rick Pitino,” Cronin said. “I think Coach Huggins has prepared me to be a head coach. At the same time, I think working under Coach Pitino will prepare me even more.”

        Pitino, named Louisville's head coach last month, announced his staff at a news conference Thursday. Cronin is considered the big catch because of his recruiting experience and knowledge of Conference USA.

        Cronin, who turns 30 in July, is a Cincinnati native. His father, Harold “Hep” Cronin, won more than 400 games as a high school coach in the Greater Cincinnati area.

        “The fairy tale may have been that I could coach at Cincinnati for the rest of my life,” Cronin said. “My parents grew up on the campus. My father's a graduate. I'm a graduate. I've been a UC fan my whole life. It was a great experience.”

        Cronin was Woodward High School's varsity assistant and JV coach when Huggins hired him as the Bearcats' video coordinator in 1996. Cronin became a full-time assistant in 1997 and began earning a reputation as a tireless recruiter.

        “Everything I learned about the college game, I learned from (Huggins),” Cronin said. “I learned what it takes to win: hard work on and off the floor.”

        Cronin said he tried to call all the UC players Wednesday. He said leaving the players, most of whom he recruited heavily, is “probably the toughest thing for me.”

        “It's bittersweet,” Cronin said. “I'm not going to lie to you; it's tough.”

        Cronin said he never asked UC to match Louisville's offer.

        Pitino said he had hoped Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard, a former Pitino assistant at Kentucky, would join him at Louisville and that pursuing Cronin “was a last-minute thing.” Sonny Vaccaro from adidas recommended Cronin, who had worked at adidas' ABCD camp. Pitino called Huggins and said the UC coach had nothing but good things to say.

        “It's like anything else in life, you go after the best wherever the best may be,” Pitino said. “We're not trying to hurt Cincinnati.”

        Asked whether he thought this might fan the flames of the C-USA rivalry, Pitino said:

        “Until our players catch up to the level of Cincinnati or Kentucky or Memphis, it's not a true rivalry. We have a long way to go to make that happen.”

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