John Brannen

[leo from jersey]

All lawyers who represent people in Brannen’s current position have “smoking guns.” If he did have a smoking gun that would completely absolve Brannen, then he would have given it up. This would allow Brannen to recruit a new roster via the transfer portal and from high school players. The longer he withholds the “smoking gun,” the more he hurts his own client by mitigating his effectiveness. Brannen is finished at UC, it just a question of how much UC will pay him to leave.

100 % correct. My whole family are/were attorneys including my sons currently practicing. The attorney appears to be negotiating in public. What else do you expect him to say. He most likely won't get more settlement money by alluding to his undisclosed evidence. WE can speculate what he claims to have, perhaps written notes of a player conspiracy or even staff, but there would even have to be a reason for going to all that trouble. Who knows what is underneath this mess. We just know something has to change. I do wonder who knew and who were sources for the Athletics report. If the medical staff was so scared to speak, what has given them security now.
sickening

[Bearcat1996]

100 % correct. My whole family are/were attorneys including my sons currently practicing. The attorney appears to be negotiating in public. What else do you expect him to say. He most likely won't get more settlement money by alluding to his undisclosed evidence. WE can speculate what he claims to have, perhaps written notes of a player conspiracy or even staff, but there would even have to be a reason for going to all that trouble. Who knows what is underneath this mess. We just know something has to change. I do wonder who knew and who were sources for the Athletics report. If the medical staff was so scared to speak, what has given them security now.
sickening

What is very strange is the thought of Bob Mangine being afraid to speak up / out. Something isn't right here and unless JC gets it under control, then he needs to go before it gets worse.

[Lobot]

For those of you who have heard rumors that were more severe, does this Athletic article match up with any of them, or did you hear something else?

Frankly this is a lot worse than what I knew about. You don't undermine the medical staff. I wouldn't be surprised to see some lawsuits from former players after this is over.

[Lobot]

And.. I will say this as an alum. The AD is responsible for keeping the program out of this f'd up situation. The overall situation is something that the AD did not handle properly if this is where we are

He inherited this mess and is now trying to dig us out of it. Bohn hired Brannen. Brannen has been here longer than Cunningham.

Aside from Brannen himself, the person who put us in this mess is Mike Bohn. Seems like Mike didn't do enough due diligence during the hiring process. I think he had a foot out the door during that time.

[leo from jersey]

Frankly this is a lot worse than what I knew about. You don't undermine the medical staff. I wouldn't be surprised to see some lawsuits from former players after this is over.

On what grounds? If they transfer their ability to play has not been impeded. Mental cruelty? Hard to prove. Physical neglect and lack of proper supervision perhaps. I believe it would all have to be against the University. If so, swift and abrupt action is required. Perhaps some deep pocketed boosters know a solution.

[leo from jersey]

He inherited this mess and is now trying to dig us out of it. Bohn hired Brannen. Brannen has been here longer than Cunningham.

Aside from Brannen himself, the person who put us in this mess is Mike Bohn. Seems like Mike didn't do enough due diligence during the hiring process. I think he had a foot out the door during that time.

Perhaps NKU let JB leave with their blessings and a glowing reference. At least about a winning record.

[Greg7173]

Brannen was very successful at NKU and i suspect he didn't change his coaching style just for us. Based on what we saw during the year, he had a bunch of very spoiled players who didn't respond well to his method of coaching. Covid protocol probably didn't help things. We've all seen coaches scream and yell at players. What is different here? Maybe if Brannen has a group of his players, he does better. If you want him out, just fire him and move on. Cunningham has dragged all of us thru this mess when it could have been handled totally differently. He needs to go as well.

[coach]

Ironic they find themselves in this spot on the day the replay of the 61 title game is broadcast. All they needed was for Mick to win last night and they would have had the perfect storm.

[John P]

He inherited this mess and is now trying to dig us out of it. Bohn hired Brannen. Brannen has been here longer than Cunningham.

Aside from Brannen himself, the person who put us in this mess is Mike Bohn. Seems like Mike didn't do enough due diligence during the hiring process. I think he had a foot out the door during that time.

I agree with this.
For us who are sitting on the sidelines, I doubt that anyone really knows what Cunningham has or hasn't done during the past few weeks since the players started leaving.
I just hope that for the programs sake this doesn't drag on much longer.

[Rufus]

I've been primarily in JB' s corner throughout all this. I will also concede now that JC has inherited a mess that needs to be handled with kid gloves. JB has apparently mis- managed this coaching gig and if all these grievances are true , as troubling as they are I'm leaning in the direction that he was working out of desperation. He inherited only half a team ( all but a few bailed on him ) which isn't unique but left him to recruit in desperation. Knowing the bearcat tradition, values and heritage Im thinking he put way too much pressure on himself ( and the team) in trying being a success. Add in the fact the passing of his father in the midst of his first season and then not being able to close out his first year in traditional fashion ( no tournament) then the Covid protocol, Im of the opinion that he was perhaps over-whelmed and tried to over compensate. This is not to say he deserves a pass, as I do agree that a change in coaching staff is needed, but I do stand by my feeling that the whole situation could have been handled way better. And perhaps Lobot is correct in that JB' s stubbornness is the root cause for this feet dragging and taking so long. I don't think JB is a bad person or a bad coach doing shady things to win ball games. And I hope that ruining JB' s career is not the result of this mess. It would have been better for all involved if JB would have just kept on walking when we saw his back at the end of the finals, resigned and allowed the AD to find a replacement. It was quoted that one of his players couldn't believe that JB didn't know how his players truly felt and I agree, He ain't stupid. The one thing that stands out on all this is the reprimand. If that reprimand is legit then it don't take fourteen days to get this situation rectified. Just cause is documented.

[leo from jersey]

Brannen was very successful at NKU and i suspect he didn't change his coaching style just for us. Based on what we saw during the year, he had a bunch of very spoiled players who didn't respond well to his method of coaching. Covid protocol probably didn't help things. We've all seen coaches scream and yell at players. What is different here? Maybe if Brannen has a group of his players, he does better. If you want him out, just fire him and move on. Cunningham has dragged all of us thru this mess when it could have been handled totally differently. He needs to go as well.

successful at a winning record. The players who left this year were JB's players. It is so easy to say just fire him. It was was feasible, they probably would have. They still might (who knows), but there is a lot of murky water. How would you have handled it differently? Few are privileged to personal interviews with players. Few know the monetary situation. Few know the hearts of the majority of high powered boosters. Heck we don't know exactly how the administration is thinking and they are not gonna make that public now. Greg this is not an easy situation to cure. I, like you, want it to go away quickly. So far it has not, but with some info going public we may yet see a resolution in the near future. The attorney's claiming to have inside information that will change hearts, just seems to be an act of desperation and playing for time. He knows the need to recruit etc. and the longer he holds out, UC just might come up with more money to make it go away. Or they may keep JB. It could be another Easter miracle.

[leo from jersey]

Ironic they find themselves in this spot on the day the replay of the 61 title game is broadcast. All they needed was for Mick to win last night and they would have had the perfect storm.

I remember that game very well. I wish I was in cincy to watch it. Perhaps they will put it on youtube or the UC site.

[Lobot]

Brannen was very successful at NKU and i suspect he didn't change his coaching style just for us. Based on what we saw during the year, he had a bunch of very spoiled players who didn't respond well to his method of coaching. Covid protocol probably didn't help things. We've all seen coaches scream and yell at players. What is different here? Maybe if Brannen has a group of his players, he does better. If you want him out, just fire him and move on. Cunningham has dragged all of us thru this mess when it could have been handled totally differently. He needs to go as well.

Lot's of coaches run hard practices. We've seen a few around here. Kid's throwing up during conditioning is nothing new. Kid's needing IV's during practice and the manipulation of medical personnel seems new. Things have changed since the days of Huggins in regards to how much say the medical personnel really get in regards to student welfare. Overruling them is line you can't cross anymore especially during concussion protocol. There's a wide gap between "the players are soft and I ran them a lot" and "the players need medical attention after practice"

I think the difference for us is that Huggins and Cronin ran hard practices in order to get the best out of their players but supported them as people off the court. I get no such feeling from Brannen at all. He's practically cold and unemotional even on the sidelines. My initial perception of this when Brannen came aboard was that he was just a different personality type on the sideline than Huggins and Cronin. Now, I think it's a bit more than that. Sometimes people can be a little too smart and unable to get out of their own head when things go wrong.

[London 'Cat]

Lot's of coaches run hard practices. We've seen a few around here. Kid's throwing up during conditioning is nothing new. Kid's needing IV's during practice and the manipulation of medical personnel seems new. Things have changed since the days of Huggins in regards to how much say the medical personnel really get in regards to student welfare. Overruling them is line you can't cross anymore especially during concussion protocol. There's a wide gap between "the players are soft and I ran them a lot" and "the players need medical attention after practice"

I think the difference for us is that Huggins and Cronin ran hard practices in order to get the best out of their players but supported them as people off the court. I get no such feeling from Brannen at all. He's practically cold and unemotional even on the sidelines. My initial perception of this when Brannen came aboard was that he was just a different personality type on the sideline than Huggins and Cronin. Now, I think it's a bit more than that. Sometimes people can be a little too smart and unable to get out of their own head when things go wrong.

It was difficult to see most times because the camera rarely focused on Brannen. But, there were times where you could see Brannen's anger, almost rage, when the game was not going well for UC. I noticed it much more in his first year with Cumberland but I also noticed it this past season as well. I tend to agree that this reaction was different from anything Huggins or Cronin ever displayed. They would get angry, for certain, but Brannen reacted differently. I can't explain how it was different, it just was in my perception.

[leo from jersey]

well we have our reason now to support the firing. We just need the money.