Mick Cronin uses poker analogy to describe NIL era: ‘In the middle of the game, they changed the game’

Kirby Lee | Imagn Images

When Mick Cronin took over at UCLA in 2019, the NIL era was still a couple years away. His recruiting pitch, of course, involved the program’s storied history while following in the footsteps of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Reggie Miller.

Two years after his arrival, players got the ability to earn money through their name, image and likeness. Cronin compared the landscape shift to sitting at a poker table when the dealer changed the rules mid-game.

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Cronin acknowledged the issues facing college basketball as the NIL space continues to evolve, especially now that rev-share has arrived. However, his approach isn’t to talk at length about those problems. Instead, he stressed the importance of adapting to the ever-changing space.

“In this era, you can’t let the NIL stuff eat you alive,” Cronin said on The Field of 68. “‘Why? Why? They’ve got to fix it.’ All that stuff. Look, it is what it is. You sat down to play poker and, in the middle of the game, they changed the game. This is my analogy. It’s simple. I got to sit down, obviously, at UCLA with the best hand – best campus, best tradition, best weather, best school, all that stuff. But then, they changed the game.

“So you’ve got two choices, the way I see it: play the new game or get up and leave. Quit playing. But to just sit there and cry that they changed the game the whole time, what you don’t realize is you’re ruining your life, your existence. That’s how I look at it.”

Mick Cronin: ‘You’ve just got to play the game’