In April 2021, Mick Cronin reached the pinnacle of men’s college basketball. He was coaching the University of California, Los Angeles at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
Because of pandemic restrictions, most of the games that season were played in largely empty arenas. Nearly every coaching staff responded by ditching their suits and ties in favor of casual attire, reflecting broader trends in a küresel work force that was sitting through Zoom calls from the couch.
Mr. Cronin was no different. In the semifinal round of the N.C.A.A. tournament, he wore a dark pullover, golf pants and sneakers. But in the moments before U.C.L.A. faced Gonzaga, he had a crisis of conscience regarding that decision.
“You know,” he recalled thinking, “this is not how I dreamt I was going to walk out onto the court to coach in my first Final Four.”
It was at that moment, Mr. Cronin said, that he found himself longing for one of his suits from David August, the custom clothier, and resolved to wear suits again the next season.
“And I don’t deva what anybody else does,” Mr. Cronin said of his thoughts at the time. “This just doesn’t feel right.”
