Mick Cronin has been under scrutiny over the last few days after he ejected one of his own players during the Michigan State Spartans game. At the time, Cronin thought that center Steven Jamerson had made a dirty play.
Late in the second half, the Spartans were up 77-50. Spartans’ center Carson Cooper received a pass near half court and charged toward the bucket for a dunk. Before he could slam the ball in, Jamerson fouled him hard.
There was also a tussle between the players immediately after that, but it was soon resolved. However, Cronin didn’t like what he believed was a dirty play at the time, and he told Jamerson to leave the court.
Fans were shocked by his decision because UCLA was struggling, and it didn’t make sense to eject one of his own players. Jamerson eventually received a flagrant one foul, which wouldn’t have resulted in him leaving the floor.
During a recent media interaction, Cronin apologized to Jamerson for his decision. However, the fans aren’t convinced by his apology and want him out.
“UCLA should just pay the buyout! It’s not working,” a fan wrote.
“Too late! You are a grown man and the leader of a program. You don’t get mulligans,” a fan wrote.
“It was the least dirty play I’ve ever seen,” a fan wrote.
“Lmao he’s only apologizing because of backlash or AD made him,” a fan wrote.
“His job was threatened 100% to walk this back lmao,” a fan wrote.
Cronin received a lot of pushback for his decision. Even though he’s apologizing now, the fans aren’t buying his apology.
Mick Cronin Misunderstood the Play
While speaking to the media, Cronin said that he didn’t have a good look at what Jamerson did, and from what he saw, he thought it was a dirty play. In his opinion, when the team is down 27 points, players shouldn’t make such dirty plays to take the opponent out.
It wasn’t until he went back and revisited the footage that he realized that he overreacted and that Jamerson shouldn’t have been punished.
“I apologized to Steve,” he said. “I thought that he took the guy out…It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room. I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out.”
Cronin tried to lighten up the room with some jokes about trying to get Jamerson another commercial.
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