Mick Cronin thought Tuesday’s showdown was just going to be business as usual. Then his dad called.

His 83-year-old father let Cronin know he’d be trekking across the country for Tuesday night’s game against Minnesota. But Cronin didn’t understand what enticed his father to come to this game over a marquee Michigan State showdown two weeks ago.

Turns out, Harold “Hep” Cronin had a reason – a big one.

“’You’re a real genius,’” Mick said Hep told him. “’You know if you win, what it is?’”

Only then did it hit. Cronin is just one victory shy of the 500-career-win club.

“I wouldn’t have known that other than I asked my dad why he was flying in for this game,” Cronin said.

And UCLA men’s basketball’s home-court bout against Minnesota could allow the Bruin faithful to witness history unfold.

“It would be awesome,” said junior forward Tyler Bilodeau. “That’s a great milestone for him. It’s huge, so hopefully we can get that done for him.”

Each of Cronin’s 499 coaching wins has inched him closer to 500. But for years, every victory was a desperate claw for solid ground.

Collegiate basketball can be considered an unforgiving business – lined with contract negotiations, job insecurity and the ever-present question of what comes next.

“It was just, ‘How do I survive?’” said Cronin, the 22-year head coach. “You’re either getting extended or extinguished in that profession.”

But after earning one of college basketball’s most coveted jobs, survival is no longer the concern for the sixth-year Bruin head coach.

Cronin’s head coaching career commenced in 2003 at Murray State – guiding the Racers to two Round of 64 appearances before taking the reins at his alma mater in 2006.

Through 13 seasons coaching at Cincinnati – both in the Big East and American Athletic conferences – Cronin steered the Bearcats to four Round of 64, four Round of 32 and one Sweet 16 finish. He gathered a 296-147 winning record before relocating across the country to helm UCLA.

The school, defined by the legacy of coach John Wooden, was steeped in basketball prestige.

“Imagined being the coach at UCLA? No, no,” Cronin said. “When you’re young, you’re just thinking, ‘Can I get a job, make enough money before I get fired?’ At least that’s how I was.”

Cronin took to Westwood carrying the most NCAA Division I wins of any active coach under 50. And it didn’t take long for that resume to translate to reality in Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins began their first season under Cronin’s command with a lackluster 8-9 record in 2019. But after spurring an 11-3 run and finishing second in the Pac-12, Cronin was named Coach of the Year of the now-diminished Conference of Champions. He helped award the Bruins a No. 2 seed and first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament, but the postseason was later called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCLA’s 2020-2021 season shocked with a Cinderella run, advancing from the First Four to Cronin’s first-ever Final Four.

“His energy gets us going all the time,” said sophomore guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. “Having a coach like that, that’s fiery. It gets the team going, and we play with a lot of energy, and (it’s) fast paced, and it all starts from your coaching. As a team, we try to match his energy all the time.”

After yet another Sweet 16 run the following year and a six-year contract extension in 2022, Cronin shepherded the Bruins to a Pac-12 regular season championship and their third-straight Sweet 16, earning his second Pac-12 Coach of the Year distinction in the process.

The Bruins reeled in the wake of key departures in the 2023-2024 season – but 16 weeks into this year’s campaign, he’s secured UCLA an expected berth in the Big Dance.

“We’re going to get 500 for him, for sure,” Dailey said. “Definitely a great milestone in his career, and just lucky that we’re the team to do it for him.”

Coaching has never been about being liked for Cronin. He doesn’t sugarcoat. He doesn’t cater. And he certainly doesn’t sell his players a dream.

And that’s not because he doesn’t care – it’s because he does.

That mindset was forged in Cincinnati, where Hep gathered 400 career wins coaching high school basketball. Success was never measured in fame or fortune but instead in how he shaped young men and equipped them for life beyond the sport.

“When you’re a high school coach, you don’t coach for money. It’s all about relationships and teaching,” Cronin said. “That’s what coaching used to be about. I tried to hold on to that.”

With the ever-growing relevance of name, image and likeness, social media hype, and endorsement deals, college basketball has changed – but certainly not to Cronin’s liking.

“The commercialization of youth sports, pay-for-play, all the money and branding that surrounds this whole thing, it puts them in a fantasy land that is not going to be there for them when the ball stops bouncing,” Cronin said.

Cronin is often distinguished by his no-nonsense approach – from labeling his team “delusional” to criticizing his assistants.

But if being brutally honest makes him less popular, so be it.

“I know sometimes people look and be like, ‘Guys ain’t going to want to play for him,’ and that’s OK,” Cronin said. “Because there’s a second side of people in our business that are not like that. They’re not going to tell guys the truth because they want to be popular for recruiting reasons and media reasons. But I sleep well at night because I know I care about them. And I got that from my dad.”

That’s been Cronin’s way through 22 years and 499 wins.

So with 500 knocking at the doorstep, it doesn’t look like anything is about to change.