John Brannen (born January 18, 1974) is an American basketball coach currently serving as a program analyst and senior special assistant for the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

Flyers. He was most recently the men's basketball coach of the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

Bearcats. Brannen previously spent four seasons as the head coach for the

Northern Kentucky University Northern Kentucky University is a public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky. It is primarily an undergraduate institution with over 14,000 students; over 12,000 are undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 are graduate students. Northern K ...

Norse. Before that he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach to Anthony Grant at both VCU and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. For the Tide's two games in the

2015 National Invitation Tournament The 2015 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2015 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament is being played on campus sites for the first three ...

, Brannen served as interim head coach.

Coaching career

Brannen held assistant coaching positions at

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

and St. Bonaventure before being hired by former

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

assistant Anthony Grant, who had just been named head coach at VCU. Brannen spent three seasons at VCU before following Grant to Alabama, where he was an assistant for six seasons (the last two as associate head coach). When Grant was fired following the Tide's 2015 SEC tournament loss, Brannen was named interim head coach for the team's NIT appearance. The Tide were knocked out of the tournament by

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in the second round following a first round home win over

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Northern Kentucky

Brannen is a Kentucky native and was named the head coach of NKU, the fifth in program history, on April 7, 2015. In 2017, Brannen led the Norse to the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

championship and the NCAA tournament in the school's first season of full Division I eligibility, the first team since 1970 to do so. Brannen was also named the 2017 Coach of the Year in the

. In his four season with the Norse Brannen earned two NCAA berths, two Horizon League regular season titles, and two Horizon League tournament championships.

Cincinnati

On April 14, 2019, Brannen was named the new head coach of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. In his first season, Brannen lead the Bearcats to a 20–10 record earning a share of the regular season

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

title and the 1st overall seed in the conference tournament. However, the season was abruptly ended due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The Bearcats were led by

Jarron Cumberland Jarron Cumberland (born September 22, 1997) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Delaware Blue Coats of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats. High school career Cumberland att ...

and

Trevon Scott Trevon Scott (born November 25, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats. High school career Scott played basketball for McIntosh Co ...

, playing in a 2019–20 season record seven overtime games over the course of the season. With a new roster and added struggles including a 25-day COVID-19 pause, the Bearcats ended Brannen's second year fifth overall in the regular season with a 12–11 overall record. The team did make a surprise run to the conference tournament championship game before losing to an eventual Final Four team in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Dismissal

Within two days after the conference tournament championship, the Bearcats saw six players enter the transfer portal. On March 26, the AD John Cunningham announced the university would begin investigating allegations against the program. On April 3, it was announced that Brannen was placed on indefinite leave. On April 9, Cincinnati announced John Brannen had been relieved of his duties effective immediately. On September 8, 2022, it was announced that Brannen and the University of Cincinnati had reached an amicable resolution, later announced to be a $2.75 million settlement.

Return to coaching

Beginning in 2022, Brannen rejoined Anthony Grant as a program analyst and senior special assistant for

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

Playing career

Brannen played at

Newport Central Catholic High School Newport Central Catholic High School (abbreviated NewCath or NCC) is a coeducational private secondary school in Newport, Kentucky and part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington. It is located in the center of Newport overlooking the Cinci ...

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky, Campbell County, Kentucky. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 United ...

, followed by a college career at

Morehead State Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...

before transferring to

for his final two seasons. As a junior, Brannen would play with teammate Jason Williams and was coached by

Billy Donovan William John Donovan Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He has served as head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since September 2020 after previously coa ...

and then assistant

Gregg Marshall Michael Gregg Marshall (born February 27, 1963) is an American college basketball coach whose most recent position was head coach at Wichita State University. Marshall has coached his teams to appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball ...

. As a senior, Brannen led the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

in scoring and was named the league tournament MVP. Brannen played two seasons of professional basketball in Belgium's First Division before returning to the States to begin his coaching career.

Personal life

Brannen is married to the former Lisa Elswick, with whom he has twin daughters. He is originally from

Alexandria, Kentucky Alexandria is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, in the United States. Along with Newport, it is one of the dual seats of the county. The population was 10,341 at the 2020 census. History It is believed that the area that is ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in business management from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

in 1997 and was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

finalist as a college senior.

Head coaching record

:1.Cancelled due to the

Coronavirus Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

References

External links