Cronin had been named the coach of the year of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in 2014 and guided Bearcats' program to nine straight NCAA tournament appearances (through 2018–19).

[5] Not only did his father coach basketball, he also was a teacher, a baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves, and an employee at River Downs race track during the summers.

[3] Attending La Salle High School, the 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) Cronin, playing point guard for his dad,[6][7][8] earned all-city honors in basketball at LaSalle.

[10] Cronin compiled a 57–3 record in three seasons as JV coach, and as a varsity aide, Woodward claimed three city championships.

[9] Cronin built a reputation for his ability to evaluate and recruit top talent; at UC as an assistant for Huggins from 1997 to 2001, Cronin recruits included NBA draft selections Steve Logan (Golden State Warriors), DerMarr Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Pete Mickeal and Kenny Satterfield (both drafted by the Dallas Mavericks), and Jason Maxiell (Detroit Pistons).

[13] In three seasons at Murray, Cronin led the team to the NCAA tournament twice and was named the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year.

For the 2009–10 season, Cronin was able to successfully recruit Lance Stephenson, the all-time leading scorer in New York state high school basketball history who later had NBA stints with multiple teams.

[15] Cronin is also the only UC coach to ever lead the Bearcats to a win over a higher seed in the NCAA tournament, when 6th-seeded Cincinnati defeated 3rd-seeded Florida State in 2012.

[17] In 2011, the University of Cincinnati board of trustees approved a contract extension for Cronin through 2017 with an average pay of $1.5 million a year.

"[21] On April 9, 2019, Cronin was named the fourteenth head coach of the UCLA Bruins, replacing the fired Steve Alford.

After Cincinnati lost to UCLA in the 2017 NCAA tournament, they defeated the Bruins in two consecutive regular-season matches by an average of 21.5 points.

[33] The Bruins lost 93–90 in overtime after the Bulldogs' Jalen Suggs banked in a 40-foot (12 m) shot as time expired in the game,[34] a match that featured 19 lead changes and 15 ties.

He led the 2021–22 team to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2022 NCAA tournament, the first time the Bruins had reached the regional semifinals in consecutive seasons since 2015.

Cronin annually spoke with the Young Executive Group of the Catholic Inner-City Schools Education (CISE) Fund.

The group raises money from area corporations to help give children from low-income urban settings the opportunity to attend Catholic schools.

On December 22, 2014, during the 2014–2015 season, Cronin, 43, was diagnosed with an unruptured aneurysm detected when he underwent medical testing for unexplained headaches.

On January 2, 2015, it was announced that, although doctors expected the condition to heal with rest and medication, Cronin would not coach the remainder of the season.

[46] On March 30, 2015, Cronin announced he had a clean bill of health and was cleared to return to full-time coaching duties following his diagnosis of an arterial dissection.