John Brannen has had an interesting start of his tenure with the Bearcats. He has finally been able to add a few to his coaching staff (Jayson Gee, Sean Dwyer and Tim Morris). The names haven’t made #BearcatNation jump for joy, probably because of the turnover on the roster, but that is to be expected with the loss of a head coach. Now, Brannen just has to hit the recruiting trail hard and hopefully fans won’t even remember this period in time.
Congrats to the new coaches!
Per GoBearcats
University of Cincinnati men’s basketball head coach John Brannen announced three members of his coaching staff Saturday, naming Jayson Gee, Sean Dwyer and Tim Morris assistant coaches.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Jayson, Sean and Tim as well as their families to the University of Cincinnati,” Brannen said. “It was important to hire coaches that were the right fit for our program. We were able to hire a group of men of tremendous integrity first and foremost. They also all bring the energy and passion in recruiting and player development that will help to continue to elevate Bearcats basketball.”
Gee, a 30-year veteran of the collegiate coaching ranks, joins UC after spending 2018-19 as the associate head coach at Winthrop University.
He has been a head coach at two institutions, Longwood University (2013-18) and the University of Charleston (1996-2003) and has a career coaching record of 202-175.
Gee has served as an assistant or associate head coach at Youngstown State (1989-93), Ohio University (1993-96), St. Bonaventure (2003-06) and Cleveland State (2006-13).
The veteran basketball coach is also the author of The Battle for Brandon, a book that is a dramatic and compelling story about Jayson Gee and his wife Lynette and their son Brandon’s courageous fight against child onset paranoid schizophrenia. The Gee family also worked with mass media veteran Chad Bonham to transform the book into a documentary that has received endorsements from Emmy Nominated and Golden Globe Award winning actress Jennifer Garner, WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings, former Pittsburgh Steeler Antwaan Randle El, and many more.
The 2015 recipient of the prestigious John Lotz Barnabas Award, Gee was also named one of the nation’s top 10 assistant coaches by BleacherReport.com while at Cleveland State. The John Lotz Barnabas Award is presented annually to honor a basketball coach who best exhibits a commitment to Christ, integrity and encouragement of others, and lives a balanced life.
Dwyer and Morris served under Brannen at Northern Kentucky University. Dwyer and Morris helped see the Norse complete its move from Division II to Division I status, participate in two NCAA Tournaments (2017, 2019), one NIT (2018), claim two Horizon League regular-season championships (2018, 2019) and two conference tournament titles (2017, 2019). During the last three seasons, NKU posted a 72-30 overall record.
Dwyer and Brannen have been together the past eight seasons. Dwyer, who was the first addition of Brannen’s staff at NKU prior to the 2015-16 campaign, served as an assistant coach with the Norse the past four seasons.
Prior to that, Dwyer and Brannen worked four seasons on Alabama’s staff under Anthony Grant.
While at Alabama, Dwyer served two seasons as video coordinator (2012, 2013) before spending two years as Grant’s special assistant to the head coach (2014, 2015). Dwyer performed statistical analysis of Crimson Tide teams and opponents and served administrative roles as the liaison to the compliance office and provided oversight for the student managers program.
Prior to his stay at Alabama, Dwyer worked the 2011 season as the video coordinator at Arkansas under head coach John Pelphrey and 2010 campaign as the assistant video coordinator at Florida under head coach Billy Donovan.
Dwyer, who earned his finance degree at Michigan State in 2009, spent four years as a student manager with the Spartans and was a part of four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a national runner-up finish in 2009.
Before his three-year stint at NKU, Morris served as the director of player development at Nevada, under head coach Eric Musselman, for the 2015-16 campaign. The Wolf Pack won the College Basketball Invitational that season, finishing 24-14 overall.
Morris also worked as a graduate assistant at Alabama where he earned a master’s degree in human performance. He also served as an assistant coach at Kennesaw State.
A 2008 graduate of Stanford, Morris played for Mike Montgomery and Trent Johnson while earning a degree in English Literature. He also played one season at Washington following graduation from Stanford.
Morris and his wife Morgan are the proud parents of twins, Ryan and Simeon.
