Reinhardt names Cronic as first head football coach
"I feel honored… it's like a dream come true," Cronic said. "I feel like there's some spiritual involvement. I love to put together a team. I love mentoring young men, especially those who have the same belief system that I do.
"I have always wanted to be a head coach on the college level," Cronic said. "That's one of the reasons I pursued a doctorate. We have some wonderful high school coaches in the state of Georgia, and I love to see the high school guys practice. I like the meeting the public part of recruiting, and seeing who could play, and talking to the coaches, and getting the kids excited about coming to campus. We're going to go after players who want to come here and who want to play some good football. So if I've got players who want to play football and coaches that are hired to coach them, that's hog heaven for me."
Reinhardt's President Dr. J. Thomas Isherwood is enthusiastic about Cronic's values and quality record. "Dr. Cronic's experience and his record of success will translate into winning Reinhardt football," Isherwood said. "It is very important for our coaches to share our institution's values and to demonstrate that they can work effectively with young people to build character. We have succeeded in meeting all these goals with Dr. Danny Cronic. His hiring marks a very important step forward for this dynamic new program."
Reinhardt's Athletic Director Bill Popp agrees. "Coach Cronic brings a wealth of experience and a winning tradition, and he is a great man of faith and coach of character. Danny will instill in our football players values that will help them become great players on the field as well as great men off of it."
A search committee of students, faculty and staff carefully reviewed more than 25 applications before selecting the top three candidates who came to campus in late April for personal interviews, said Dr. Roger R. Lee, Reinhardt's vice president for student affairs and dean of students. "The committee worked diligently to identify the best qualified candidates," Lee said. "We were fortunate to have an excellent candidate pool, and Dr. Cronic's incredible reputation and career achievements had a lot to do with our recommendation. He matched our criteria, point by point: high academic goals for our student-athletes, an understanding of Reinhardt's campus culture, effective student recruitment and success in fund raising."
Though the football team won't play their first intercollegiate game until 2013, Coach Cronic already has a long checklist to address; high on the list is assembling his staff and recruiting players. Popp said Cronic will "get the ball rolling -- he will begin meeting people at Reinhardt and in the community, begin the recruiting process as high school and two year schools get going, and start assembling his staff."
"Well, right now we don't have any players," Cronic said. "We've got to go out and get recruiting. We've got to get a staff assembled, and get all the other things going… the weight room, meeting rooms, the facilities, the field. Start connecting with alumni. There's a lot of excitement. It's bubbling in me. In fact, I'm going to see some schools this afternoon. They're going to be out of school next week."
Interested prospective players are encouraged to contact Reinhardt at football@reinhardt.edu and make their interest known. "With our scholarship situation, we will have to connect desire and talent, and of course they'll have to meet Reinhardt's admissions standards," Cronic said. "We want them to have success. When you really work hard, you need a reward. Being successful at this level means you're winning some football games."
With a high school football record of 223-113, Cronic is well-regarded across the state for his coaching success at LaGrange, East Coweta, Forsyth County and Cherokee (Canton, Ga.,) high schools. He comes to Reinhardt from a head coaching position at The Heritage School in Newnan, Ga. He also has collegiate experience as the offensive backfield coach at Middle Tennessee State University, offensive coordinator at West Georgia College, a walk-on football player at the University of Georgia and an inter-service football team player as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
A native of Hull, Ga., Cronic played football and basketball at Madison County High School and earned his bachelor's, master's and specialist degree in education from The University of Georgia. He received his doctorate in physical education from Middle Tennessee State University.
Cronic has received numerous athletic awards. He has been named Region Coach of the Year by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association four times; State Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Touchdown Club; and Area Coach of the Year by the LaGrange Daily News four times and the Newnan Times Herald five times. His high school teams participated in the playoffs 16 of 18 years at East Coweta High School. He coached four undefeated seasons and has had more than 100 players go on to the collegiate level and 14 to play in the National Football League. Others went on to play in the Arena League.
Football will be Reinhardt's 17th athletic program that offers scholarships. In addition, the institution fields men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer and tennis, men's baseball, women's softball, women's volleyball and coed cheerleading.