Grizzlies Assistant Nick Van Exel Reportedly Interested in Cincinnati HC Job

Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Nick Van Exel is interested in the Cincinnati Bearcats' vacant head-coaching position after Mick Cronin left for UCLA on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Van Exel played two seasons at Cincinnati from 1991 to 1993. He helped guide the Bearcats to the 1992 Final Four, where they fell to the Michigan Wolverines' iconic Fab Five. They made it to the Elite Eight the next year before being knocked out by eventual national champion North Carolina.

Van Exel earned third-team All-American honors as a senior in 1992-93, averaging 18.3 points and 4.5 assists while leading his team to a 27-5 record.

He was inducted into the University of Cincinnati's Hall of Fame in 2018.

Van Exel was a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1993 and played 13 seasons in the NBA with six franchises, averaging 14.4 points per game. He was named to the All-Rookie second team in 1994 and earned an All-Star selection in 1998.

The 47-year-old has spent the last decade gaining coaching experience at the college level, in the NBA and in the G League. He went 23-27 as the head coach of the G League's Texas Legends in 2015-16. He has been an assistant in Memphis since 2016.

Van Exel spoke to Pete Pranica of NBA.com in June 2016 about what motivates him to coach:

"The drive and the competitiveness is, when you're teaching a player something and they go out there and do what you were working on, that's the gratification for me. That's my thrill right now. When you're sitting there busting a player in practice or in the summertime and you see them improving and getting better, that's kind of my drive. That's what gets me pumped up."

This marks the first time since 2006 that the Cincinnati job has become available. Cronin spent 13 years as the head coach at UC, going 296-147 while leading the program to nine consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

The Bearcats went 28-7 this season and won the American Athletic Conference tournament title. As a No. 7 seed, they were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament by 10th-seeded Iowa.